mber of birds together,
he should build him a church: and so he did, which is the church of the
Angel Raphael in Dorsoduro.

"Afterwards appeared to him Messer Jesus Christ our Lord, and committed
to him that in the midst of the city he should build a church, in the
place above which he should see a red cloud rest: and so he did, and it
is San Salvador.

"Afterwards appeared to him the most holy Mary the Virgin, very
beautiful, and commanded him that where he should see a white cloud
rest, he should build a church: which is the church of S. Mary the
Beautiful.

"Yet still appeared to him S. John the Baptist, commanding that he
should build two churches, one near the other,--the one to be in his
name, and the other in the name of his father. Which he did, and they
are San Giovanni in Bragora, and San Zaccaria.

"Then appeared to him the apostles of Christ, wishing, they also, to
have a church in this new city: and they committed it to him that where
he should see twelve cranes in a company, there he should build it."

Of the Baptistery mosaics the most scanned will always be that in which
Salome bears in the head. In another the decapitated saint bends down
and touches his own head. The scene of Christ's baptism is very quaint,
Christ being half-submerged in Jordan's waves, and fish swimming past
during the sacred ceremony. Behind the altar, on which is a block of
stone from Mount Tabor, is a very spirited relief of S. George killing
the dragon.

The adjoining chapel is that named after Cardinal Zeno, who lies in the
magnificent central tomb beneath a bronze effigy of himself, while his
sacred hat is in crimson mosaic on each side of the altar. The tomb and
altar alike are splendid rather than beautiful: its late Renaissance
sculptors, being far removed from Donatello, Mino, and Desiderio, the
last of whom was one of the authors of the beautiful font in the
adjoining Baptistery. Earlier and more satisfactory reliefs are those of
an angel on the right of the altar and a Madonna and Child on the left
which date from a time when sculpture was anonymous. The mosaics
represent the history of S. Mark.

One may walk or sit at will in S. Mark's as long as one wishes, free and
unharassed; but a ticket is required for the galleries and a ticket for
the choir and treasury; and the Baptistery and Zeno chapel can be
entered only by grace of a loafer with a key who expects something in
return for opening it. The history of th