How the Venetians managed to make St. Mark and the winged lion part of their history

Venice! What are the first things that come to your mind when you hear the name of this Italian city? Its symbols of course: the gorgeous gondolas, Piazza San Marco, Doge’s palace, Grand Canal, St. Mark’s Basilica, the winged lion.

Have you ever wondered why the Venetians named their biggest square and the basilica after Saint Mark? Why the citizens of the Serenissima claim that their patron saint is exactly St. Mark? Why everywhere in of City of Lagoons you can see statues of a winged lion?

The answers to these questions can be found, if we go back in time in 828, when the relics – believed to be St. Mark body – were stolen from his grave in Alexandria (at the time controlled by the Abbasid Caliphate) by Rustico da Torcello and Bon da Malamocco. They covered the relics with a layer of pork and cabbage leaves. Since Muslims are not permitted to touch pork, this was done to prevent the guards from inspecting the ship's cargo too closely. Back home their act was justified by using apocryphal tradition that states when St. Mark was traveling through Europe, he arrived at a lagoon in Venice, where an angel appeared to him and said: “May Peace be with you, Mark, my evangelist. Here your body will rest.” And so the saint’s relics, stolen in Alexandria, were deposited in the first basilica in 828. Placing his body in the new basilica in Venice was fundamental to establishing the figure of St. Mark as patron saint.

The most important aspect was possession since involved the possessors in care, protection and worship of the saint, for which they hoped to receive his protection in return. Exhibiting the relics made participation in worship more effective: it had a protective purpose and a positive psychological impact on the people, making them feel safe and protected. Through the saints’ intercession with God the people could stand up to all evils. St. Mark protected the Venetians and therefore also their State.

As you can see St. Mark was chosen from the Venetians to become their patron saint and not vice versa by some kind of miraculous event. For example Dubrovnik’s patron saint is Blaise. But the story here is completely different. Chroniclers of Dubrovnik such as Rastic and Ranjina attribute his veneration there to a vision in 971 to warn the inhabitants of an impending attack by the Venetians, whose galleys had dropped anchor in Gruž and near Lokrum, ostensibly to resupply their water but furtively to spy out the city's defenses. St. Blaise (Blasius) revealed their pernicious plan to Stojko, a canon of St. Stephen's Cathedral. The Senate summoned Stojko, who told them in detail how St. Blaise had appeared before him as an old man with a long beard and a bishop's mitre and staff to warn them.

Another symbol of the City of Canals isn’t their own property and creation – the winged lion, known as the lion of Saint Mark. The figure was captured in Constantinople during its looting in 1204 by the Venetians, who carried it back home. It is believed that the origin of the winged lion is Persian. Alexander the Great took it from there.

The story of the statue is full of wars and robberies. Even when Napoleon conquers Venice, takes the winged lion to Paris in 19^th century and gives order of destruction of over 1000 statues of the same lion across all Venice. Later, after the defeat of the French general, the lion was returned to the City of Water.

There is another version of how the winged lion became a symbol of Venice. According to it this weird animal was the traditional apostle’s symbol and by electing St. Mark as a Venetian patron saint, the local religious and civic authorities automatically made the winged lion the logo of the Venetian Republic.

Nowadays the original figure is well kept in the St. Mark’s Basilica, but copies can be seen in many places in Venice.