Gallery
Every photograph on this site is an openly licensed work from Wikimedia Commons, credited to its author under its own licence. None is ours, and none is generated.
Photography inside the Basilica is allowed only for personal use, which is why a guide like this one relies on licensed work: thirty-one photographs, from the façade and the domes to the Pala d’Oro, the bronze horses, the crypt and the views from the terrace. Each is credited below to its photographer, with a link to the licence it is shared under.
For what the mosaics and the façade show, see the art of St Mark’s and the façades.
The west front of St Mark’s Basilica, Venice: gold mosaics in the arches, the bronze horses on the loggia and visitors in the square below
St Mark’s Basilica seen from the Piazzetta, with the arcades of the Doge’s Palace on the right and the Clock Tower on the left
A gold mosaic dome inside St Mark’s Basilica, its figures and Latin inscription circling a star-shaped centre
The Pala d’Oro seen whole: rows of enamel saints and scenes in gilded frames, with Christ enthroned at the centre of the lower part
Detail of the Pala d’Oro: standing enamel figures under gilded arches set with pearls and coloured stones
The high altar under its ciborium, with the Pala d’Oro behind it
The four original gilded bronze horses of St Mark’s, indoors in the Basilica’s Museum
A mosaic dome inside St Mark’s seen from below, ringed by windows and gold-ground figures
Two mosaic domes and a standing saint on a gold ground, seen from the floor of the church
Gold mosaics covering the domes and arches inside St Mark’s, lit from within
A small mosaic cupola in the atrium, its scenes arranged in rings round a central rosette
Visitors photographing the marble iconostasis, with its row of statues and the great cross
Christ enthroned in the gold mosaic of the main apse, above a row of four statues
Inside St Mark’s looking east: the iconostasis with its statues, a pulpit on the left and the domes above
Part of the inlaid marble floor: a star of coloured stone triangles
The presbytery seen down the nave, framed by gold mosaic arches
The crypt of St Mark’s: low brick vaults on small columns, with rows of wooden chairs
Piazza San Marco at dusk, with the Campanile and the Basilica at the far end
The Campanile seen from above, with the Basilica’s domes at its foot and the lagoon beyond
The west front of St Mark’s lit at night, its gold mosaics glowing in the arches
The Basilica at night from the Piazzetta, between the Clock Tower and the Doge’s Palace
The domes of St Mark’s from above, beside the Doge’s Palace, with the city and the lagoon behind
Piazza San Marco seen from the Basilica’s terrace, between the flagpoles, with the Procuratie on both sides
From the Basilica’s terrace: the Piazzetta, the column of the lion and San Giorgio Maggiore across the water
Arches and domes covered in gold mosaic, seen from below inside St Mark’s
Mosaic of Abraham meeting Melchizedek, from the Old Testament scenes of St Mark’s
A mosaic lunette of the Virgin and Child, her hands raised in prayer
The nave looking east, with a great hanging lamp before the iconostasis
A winged figure holding a book, in a gold mosaic under a Latin inscription
Mosaic of Christ’s descent into limbo, raising Adam and Eve over the broken gates
Christ enthroned holding a book, in a gold mosaic
Last checked: October 1, 2026