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Sitting proudly at the head of the Piazza is the Basilica di San Marco. Richly decorated with vari-colored marble and golden mosaics, the basilica was as much a civic as a religious building. The Doge, the ruler of Venice, was the head of the church in Venice because Venice was often a political rival of the Vatican and the Pope. San Marco, although built during the Gothic period, looks distinctly different than contemporary northern european churches. Many of the craftsmen who built San Marco were from Constantinople, a trading partner of the Republic. Thus you will see lavish use of gold mosaics in the decorations and rounded arches rather than the pointed arches that are typically associated with the Gothic period.
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Western Europe
