"Replicas above,
but inside the real ones prance,
bold, undefeated."
— h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2024 09 11 Venice |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Venice, Italy. It shows the original Horses of Saint Mark's Basilica. According to Google and ChatGPT, the horses are "from antiquity (believed to be Classical Greek, 2nd or 3rd century AD). But some say the evident technical expertise and naturalistic rendering of the animals suggest they were made in Classical Greece of the 5th and 4th centuries BC. They were looted from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and brought to Venice. They stood atop the main balcony of St. Mark’s Basilica for centuries. In 1797, Napoleon took them to Paris after conquering Venice; they were installed atop the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. They were returned to Venice in 1815, after Napoleon's defeat. In 1981, due to conservation concerns, the original horses were replaced with modern replicas, and the originals were moved indoors to the Museo di San Marco, where they can still be viewed today."
A bonus photo is after the jump.
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| From 2024 09 11 Venice |
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