Square format image of winged lion in red ochre, symbolising both St Mark the Evangelist and the Venetian Republic, holding upright sword as it stares from wall in the Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore, the parish church at Sirmione, Lombardy, Italy. The church was consecrated in 1512, when the town on Lake Garda was ruled by Venice.
Sirmione, Lombardy, Italy: red ochre square format detail of a winged Lion of Saint Mark, the symbol and emblem of the biblical Evangelist and also of the Venetian Republic, holding an upright sword as it stares out from a wall inside the Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore, the parish church of this historic town built on the Sirmio peninsula jutting into Lake Garda. Santa Maria Maggiore was begun in the late 1400s to replace the ancient church of San Martino in Castro, founded in the 7th century AD, with some remnants of that earlier building re-used in its construction. It was consecrated in 1512, more than a century after Venice took control of the town and its Scaliger medieval castle. Venetian rule lasted until 1797, when Sirmione was acquired by the Hapsburg Empire. The church is also known as Santa Maria della Neve (St Mary of the Snow), a reference to a miraculous snowfall said to have occurred on the Esquiline hill in Rome on 5 August AD 352. Other ancient Roman connections include the northernmost column in the arched portico on the west front, a milestone dedicated to the 4th century emperor, Julian the Apostate, and, in the churchyard, a memorial stone dedicated to the Roman god Jupiter.
Size: 2495px × 2495px
Location: Sirmione, Lombardy, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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