Skip-The-Line: St Mark's Cathedral Tour with Entrance to the Baptistery and Zen Chapel

Choose from different departure times and easily start your tour inside St. Mark’s Cathedral without queuing at the entrance. Your expert and professional guide will introduce you to the Basilica, making you feel privileged while seating in the centre of it, surrounded by its richness and history-soaked beauty.

St. Mark’s Cathedral, located at the eastern end of St. Mark’s Square, is the most famous church in Venice and one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture.

The guide will begin this exclusive tour with an historical introduction and then will lead you to explore the Baptistery and the Zen Chapel, two less-known areas that are usually closed to visitors.

The Baptistery consists of three rooms, fully adorned with glittering 14th-century mosaics. Here you will have the chance to admire the marvelous baptismal font, the gravestone of Jacopo Sansovino and the tomb of Andrea Dandolo (Venice’s last Doge buried in St Mark’s Cathedral), one of the most important examples of Gothic sculpture in Venice.

The Zen Chapel, a significant example of the Renaissance art, was once the former entrance to the cathedral and then, in order to honor the Cardinal Zen, was converted into a chapel.

At this point of the tour you’ll be eager to delve into the other invaluable treasures enshrined in the cathedral and your knowledgeable guide will lead you to discover the famous St. Mark’s Treasure. Located in two rooms inside a tower, it consists of 283 pieces, including Byzantine and Islamic art objects, brought to Venice after the plundering of Constantinople. The two rooms preserve a collection of old and precious relics: in the right-hand side room you can admire marvellous liturgical objects, mainly of Byzantine origins, while in the left-side room the guide will highlight the importance of St. Mark’s Cathedral remains, both from an artistic and religious point of view.

After around one hour, you’ll finally come across the major altar of St. Mark’s Cathedral and the Golden Pall, considered one of the most valuable objects in the world, due to the preciousness of its materials.