San Marco Evangelista al Campidoglio, Rome

Basilica of St. Marco Basilica di San Marco Evangelista al Campidoglio
275px Façade of the basilica. To the right, Palazzo Venezia, the former embassy of the Republic of Venice, whose protector was St. Mark
Basic information
Location	Italy Rome, Italy
Geographic coordinates
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Year consecrated	324
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Minor basilica Titular, National church in Rome of Venice
Leadership	SEDE VACANTE
Website	Official Website
Architectural description
Architect(s)	Leon Battista Alberti (façade)
Architectural type	Basilica
Architectural style	Renaissance, Baroque
Groundbreaking	4th century
Completed	1470

San Marco is a minor basilica in Rome dedicated to St. Mark the Evangelist located in the small Piazza di San Marco adjoining Piazza Venezia. It was first built in 336 by Pope Mark, whose remains are in an urn located below the main altar. The basilica is the national church of Venice in Rome.

History

In 336, Pope Mark built a church devoted to one of the Evangelists, his name bearer St. Mark, in a place called ad Pallacinas. The church is thus recorded as Titulus Marci in the 499 synod of Pope Symmachus. [At that time it became one of the stational churches of the city (Monday of the third week in Lent)].

After a restoration in 792 by Pope Adrian I, the church was rebuilt by Pope Gregory IV in 833. Besides the addition of a Romanesque bell tower in 1154, the major change in the architecture of the church was ordered by Pope Paul II in 1465-70, when the façade of the church was restyled according to the Renaissance taste with a portico and loggia, using marbles taken from the Colosseum and the Theatre of Marcellus. The façade is attributed to Leon Battista Alberti. Paul II being a Venetian by birth, assigned the church to the Venetian people living in Rome.

The last major reworking of the basilica was started in 1654-57 and completed by Cardinal Angelo Maria Quirini in 1735-50. With these restorations, the church received its current Baroque decoration.

Madama Lucrezia is one of the "talking statues" of Rome, and is located next to the basilica entrance. It was once the bust of a statue of the goddess Isis, to whom a temple was dedicated in Rome not far from its current location.

Interior

The floor of the church is below the Renaissance period ground level, and steps lead down to the interior, which retains its ancient basilica format, with a raised sanctuary. The inside of the church is clearly Baroque. However, the basilica shows noteworthy elements of all her millenary history:

• the apse mosaics, dating to Pope Gregory IV, show the pope, with the squared halo of a living person, offering a model of the church to Christ, in the presence of Mark the Evangelist, Pope Saint Mark and other saints;
• the wooden ceiling, with the emblem of Pope Paul II, is one of only two original 15th-century wooden ceilings in Rome, together with the one at Santa Maria Maggiore;
• the tomb of Leonardo Pesaro (1796) by Antonio Canova.

In the portico are several early Christian grave stones, as well as the gravestone of Vannozza dei Cattanei, the mistress of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia.

Cardinal priests since 1846

• Charles Januarius Acton (21 Dec 1846 Appointed - 23 Jun 1847 Died)
• Giacomo Piccolomini (4 Oct 1847 Appointed - 17 Aug 1861 Died)
• Pietro de Silvestri (27 Sep 1861 Appointed - 19 Nov 1875 Died)
• Domenico Bartolini (3 Apr 1876 Appointed - 2 Oct 1887 Died)
• Michelangelo Celesia, O.S.B. (25 Nov 1887 Appointed - 14 Apr 1904 Died)
• József Samassa (11 Dec 1905 Appointed - 20 Aug 1912 Died)
• Franz Xavier Nagl (2 Dec 1912 Appointed - 4 Feb 1913 Died)
• Friedrich Piffl (25 May 1914 Appointed - 21 Apr 1932 Died)
• Elia Dalla Costa (13 Mar 1933 Appointed - 22 Dec 1961 Died)
• Giovanni Urbani (19 Mar 1962 Appointed - 17 Sep 1969 Died)
• Albino Luciani (5 Mar 1973 Appointed - 26 Aug 1978) elected pope as Pope John Paul I
• Marco Cé (30 Jun 1979 Appointed - 12 May 2014 Died)

References

• Roma, collection "L'Italia", Touring Editore, 2004, Milano.
• Macadam, Alta. Blue Guide Rome. A & C Black, London (1994), ISBN 07136-3939-3

See also

• Churches of Rome