The Venetian Crusade Relic in the Baptistery of San Marco
Ana Munk(Professor, Department of Art History, University of Zagreb)

Sacer lapis (“holy stone”), the granite slab upon which Christ presumably sat and preached serves as the altar stone in the baptistery of San Marco to this day, but due to its inconspicuous shape, it was a piece hidden in plain view. Only briefly referenced in literature on San Marco baptistery, its significance has not been elaborated upon. The stone was brought by the Venetian army as war booty from the Venetian Crusade of 1122-1124, as reported by a witness, a Venetian monk, Cerbano Cerbani. It was a trophy from a great victory over the well-fortified city of Tyre in a naval battle when the Venetian army, called by Pope Calixtus II and allied with Baldwin II of Jerusalem, defeated the Fatimids, and captured Tyre, a city praised for its wealth and abundant resources since the Old Testament. The stone, however, was forgotten for two centuries, only to be reutilized as an altar mensa during the dogeship of Andrea Dandolo.

This presentation will evaluate the significance of this Crusader's relic in Andrea Dandolo’s mosaic program in the baptistery of San Marco. The translation (i.e. the transfer) of the holy stone occurred during the same campaign in which relics of Saint Isidore were removed from the island of Chios. Both the body of Saint Isidore and the holy stone served as centerpieces of two major projects by Andrea Dandolo for San Marco, the chapel of Saint Isidore to the north and the baptistery to the south of San Marco church.

I intend to examine the sources narrating the events of the Venetian Crusade so as to understand the initial context of the inventio (“relic discovery”) and then proceed by investigating the changes in political and economic circumstances circa 1328 when the value of this stone was reevaluated and thematically connected with the mosaic images in the dome above the altar.

Date: Thursday, October 10, 2024, 4:00 PM
Venue: International Conference Room, Room 302, Shinyang Humanities Library (Building 4), Seoul National University
Hosted by: Department of Archaeology and Art History, College of Humanities, Seoul National University
Inquiries: Department of Archaeology and Art History, College of Humanities (02-880-6210)