Siapa St Mark? Stories about the winged lion and Venezia (Commentary)

I think I have explained enough in the Venezia posts how St Mark became the patron saint of Venezia. But what about stories of St Mark and Venezia? These stories are based on Lonely Planet, Wikitravel and the stuff I saw in the Doge's Palace.

The body of St Mark

The body of St Mark now lies in Basilica San Marco, but that's not where he died. St Mark the Evangelist was martyred in Alexandria (in modern day Egypt). How did his body end up in Venezia?

In 828, Venetian merchants stole his body and smuggled his relics into Venice. What they did was to smuggle his relics in a barrel of pork, the purpose, to prevent intervention from the Muslims who rule over Alexandria at that point in time. And when they manage to smuggle his body into Venezia, the Basilica San Marco was built to hold his remains.

There is a story that when St Mark was alive, he was shipwrecked on the island of Venezia, which wasn't developed at that time. An angel appeared to St Mark and told him that this island would be his final resting place.

Representations of St Mark

Of course, St Mark is the patron saint of Venezia, that's why he's almost everywhere on the important buildings of Venezia. But there are other ways to represent St Mark, instead of a winged lion.

The choice of using the winged lion representation of St Mark is not without a purpose. Of course it was done so to convey certain values and emotions. One of the more popular representations of the St Mark lion in Venezia is like this


Yup. The front legs on land, the hind legs on the sea. It is to convey Venezia's domination over both the land and the sea.