|
Bronze Horses
The four horses above the entrance to the basilica are copies. These originals are housed upstairs in their own room away from the weather. If they could talk, what a story they would tell! Made during the days of Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C., they've been on an epoch journey. That's right - they're 2400 years old! Symbols of power and liberty, the horses were taken to Rome by Nero, to Constantinople by Constantine, to Venice by the Crusaders, and finally to Paris by Napoleon. They were finally returned to Venice, and to their final resting place away from the acidic air in the upstairs museum of Saint Mark's Basilica. |