Venice: mosaics

Venice: canals, wealth, glass, gelato...ok granted, it is possible that everything I knew about Venice I learned from that masterpiece of literature, "Olivia Goes to Venice" (completely not kidding on the masterpiece front, all the poor reviews aside), but in any case I didn't know enough to look forward to the mosaics. The walls and inner domes of the Basilica di San Marco are covered in golden mosaics - maybe I did know that - but I never expected to be so blown away by the floors! The floor art continued on Murano at the Basilica dei Santi Maria, Donato e Cipriano (there's a famous dome mosaic here too, apparently, but it was hidden behind scaffolding when we visited). And the uncomfortably crowded boat ride out to the island of Torcello to see the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta was more than compensated for by the stunning mosaics of the Last Judgement on the west wall. The latter were guarded by a grumpy lady who was not about to let anyone break the photo ban; luckily Wikimedia Commons can help us out!

golden mosaic closeup

I intended this to be a St. George picture but in fact it's the archangel Michael...there's a dragon, in any case.

The story of creation. The scale of this is hard to capture.

and then there are the floors...

floor with peacock

3D effect ftw!

A helpful poster at the back of the church on Murano provided interpretations of the illustrated figures. Here, "Christ Eagle, regeneration symbol. It keeps between the claws a little bird symbol of human weakness that the eagle raises again." Which...is definitely what eagles do with small birds? 

"Two cocks bring a fox. They are the symbol of divine Vigilance that keeps in check the Cunning."
Probably best not to get into the gender implications of this one.

"Two crickets (that represent the alacrity of a Christian)"
Really? Aren't you curious? I'm so curious. And I don't know where to even start looking this up.

Von Sailko - Eigenes Werk, CC BY 3.0
It's hard to pick a favorite, but I thought this part of the Last Judgement mosaic was particularly cool. According to the audio guide, the angel on the left is rolling up the heavens (Revelation 6:14, "the heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up”) and the two on the right are supervising the rescue of the drowned from "the sea," apparently copied from a floor mosaic in a nearby Roman villa because who knows what the sea looks like? 

More images of the Torcello mosaics here