Virtual Refectory: All that glisters, Part III

We continue to the old glory of Rome...

Let’s continue the final exclusive chapter from Heaven on Earth…

Crossing (Ascension) cupola mosaic.

Venice was centre of the Mediterranean economy and the envy of all Europeans who both admired and jealously eyed the city’s wealth and opulence. Yet still, lava as much as floodwater and conflict spewed from the mouth of the abundant canals and lagoons. But it was now a few years after the culmination of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. From the powder-soft dunes forming barrier islands, the sea stretched away to the distant horizon unravelling signs of an opportunistic Mediterranean realm. And as the sun’s rays cut across the gently curved coastline, the sky was punctured by the bristling masts of a Venetian flotilla racing towards the shore, cloud and sail indistinguishable. Onto the soups of watery channels now connected into one recognisable city by an array of bridges, surged a force of naval men commandeered by Domenico Morosini. They disembarked from the tall ships at the bustling cluster of shipyards and armouries at the state arsenal. The docks began filling and seemingly endless hulking cargoes of post-Crusade spoils were slammed down as relics of heathen idolatry, from stolen columns to reliefs and capitals. Much was deliberately mangled, crushed, even spat on. Nevertheless, some eyes still coveted the old glory of Rome.

St Mark’s Basilica, Venice, with the replica horse statues. Photo: archaeology-travel.com

One box in particular was left where it had been discarded. This enclosed something special: four life-sized gilded bronze horses,[i] though decapitated for transportation,[ii] believed to have been cast for Alexander the Great and one of two/three Quadriga (a four-horse chariot with driver), formerly perched triumphantly atop the starting gates of Constantinople’s Hippodrome—the only surviving antique example.[iii]