Damage to iconic St Mark’s Basilica due to flooding estimated at £4.2m

Experts say many of effects of water ingress not visible to naked eye

St Mark’s Basilica suffered at least five million euros (£4.2 million) in damage during last month’s floods in Venice, officials said as they described efforts to preserve its historic features.

“Every stone is a treasure,” said Giuseppe Maneschi, technical director of the basilica’s vestry board, indicating the prized gold-leaf mosaics overhead, the inlaid stone pavement and the marble-clad walls of the 923-year-old masterpiece.

Many are vulnerable to the infiltration of sea water during the lagoon city’s ever-higher tides.

Constructed atop two previous churches on a site that early Venetians believed was among the most secure in the Canal City, the basilica suffered substantial damage during November’s devastating great tides.

The first, on November 12, was the highest in 53 years, followed by two above 1.5 metres (4.9ft), a series of severe inundations never before recorded. Though the highest was seven centimetres less than the famed 1966 flood of 1.94 metres, St Mark’s chief caretaker, Carlo Alberto Tesserin, said: “We say this was the worst.”

Unlike other natural disasters, like, for example, an earthquake that leaves images of collapsed bell towers and fallen walls, fresh damage from the Venice floods is so far not visible to the naked eye.

“Someone who comes to Venice to see the high water, and who goes to St Mark’s Square the next day, sees tables in the square, says, ‘Hey, look, the orchestra is playing. Nothing is wrong here’. While in reality, what is hidden is everything we have verified in these days,” said Mr Tesserin, who submitted the damage estimate this month to city and national officials.

Peaking at 1.87 metres (6.14ft) above sea level, last month’s great tide was accompanied by wind gusts of up to 120kph (around 75mph) that pushed the waters even higher, flooding through the windows in St Mark’s crypt of patriarchs.

The gale-force gusts buffeted the basilica’s domes, tearing away lead tiles, Mr Tesserin said.

Both the floodwaters entering from the windows and the ripping away of lead tiles were firsts in the basilica’s history.

Witnesses reported waves in St Mark’s Square never before seen.

The Venice Patriarch told a news conference that they were like waves at the seashore, a first in his experience despite having witnessed “the piazza full of water many times”.

“It was the first time that I was truly afraid,” said Mr Maneschi.

The Venice landmark includes 130 different kinds of marble – some of which no longer exist – that tell the story of ancient conquests. Treasures, such as the Madonna Nicopeia that accompanied Byzantine armies to battle, populate every corner.

But the real prize, Mr Tesserin notes, are its 8,500 square metres (91,500 square feet) of mosaics.

Picture: REX.