MOSAIC HEAVEN at ST MARK'S BASILICA

One of my favourite things in Venice was looking at the mosaics in St Mark's Basilica. The photo shown above is of a mosaic set into the outside of the building. The inside was covered with amazing mosaics of every colour, often on a gold background. The floor was also beautifully tiled with patterns and pictures that seemed to be made from polished stones of different colours. Upstairs you could get a good look at the mosaics close up. I looked very carefully to see how they had got the various effects, and realised that they had tiles in lots of shades of the same colour. It reminded me of having a box of pastels of different shades to use to create light and dark areas. As I stood looking up at the high domed ceilings I also wondered how they had physically managed to get the tiles fixed onto the roof. I can only presume that it was with an early form of scaffolding. I came away amazed by the skill of the people who had created the mosaic artwork all those years ago.