Mark the Evangelist, who was one of the “Seventy Disciples” of Jesus, wrote the Bible’s Gospel of Mark and founded the Church of Alexandria. In 828, his relics were stolen and brought to Venice. Immediately, the doge ordered that a magnificent church be built next to his palace to house the saint’s remains. This gilded mosaic over the Basilica di San Marco’s left portal illustrates the transition of Saint Mark’s body to the original basilica. In Italian, it is called “Mosaico Traslazione San Marco Venezia.” It is the oldest of the exterior mosaics dating back to 1260 or 1270.
