This is where it all began. I am writing to share my impressions from Venice, from the Doge’s Palace Museum, one of the best museums in the world. I intended to document and photograph what was stolen and looted from Constantinople and incorporated into St. Mark’s Basilica.
Here, on the ruins of the Orthodox empire, a new merchant empire rose and a new Catholic faith was formed. I hear that the Pope is coming to St. Mark’s Square today. What a coincidence, I won’t go to see him, I have some business to attend to.
Walking through Venetian palaces.
Stolen goods everywhere.
This is my third time visiting St. Mark’s Basilica. However, this time, I came with the goal of documenting and photographing some of the primary items stolen from Constantinople. It is well known that the Roman Catholics conquered Constantinople in 1204 and looted it. However, the city was so wealthy that they continued to plunder it for the next 50-60 years.
It’s impossible to catalog everything as it involves hundreds of thousands of items, but the purpose of this text is to give readers a glimpse of the scale of the looting.
When you approach the church, you are already surrounded by the spoils of plunder. Here are a few examples.
This is the famous Tetrarchy sculpture from the main square in Constantinople. It was made during the time of Diocletian (300 AD) who introduced the concept that, due to the size of the empire, four rulers should reign. Two emperors (Caesars), one in the east and one in the west, each with their own deputy (Augustus). Diocletian appointed Maximian as the emperor of the eastern part and then they both chose Galerius and Constantius (the father of Constantine the Great). All four were from the Balkans and the sculpture is made of porphyry, stone that only the Roman emperors were allowed to use. This sculpture is depicted in all history textbooks worldwide. It has been in Venice since the 13th century.
Various marble and stone reliefs and slabs stripped from the walls and floors of many churches in Constantinople are embedded in the church’s exterior walls.
Marbles of diverse design throughout St. Mark’s Basilica.
It is clearly visible that this collage wasn’t made intentionally but incorporated whatever was looted and brought over. Unfortunately, even though they wanted to replicate the splendor of ancient eastern temples, they created something resembling a colorful patchwork. It’s not genuine, but it is colorful.
Stolen marbles and stone elements were not only incorporated into the basilica but also into many other churches and palaces throughout Venice. You can encounter them at every turn. The wealth of Constantinople was so immense that this process lasted for decades, with architectural details incorporated throughout Italy and Western Europe.
Some items were never even incorporated and were simply left as they were, simply because they were beautiful. An example is these columns from Acre, standing beside the basilica.
Believe it or not, 500 different columns stolen from various churches in Constantinople are incorporated into the church. This diversity in the columns is clearly visible in the pictures.
Here is a gallery showing these various elements embedded in many parts of the church. Look carefully, and you will easily notice this diversity.
The most famous stolen items on the church are undoubtedly the bronze horses above the church entrance, looted from the Hippodrome of Constantinople.
However, there are also lesser-known details, such as these lions near the imperial throne shown in the picture.
Here are the lions in the video I made in front of the church.
Here are the imperial lions.
I should also mention the famous Pala d’Oro, a jeweler’s masterpiece made from precious stones gathered during the looting. What was valuable ended up in the hands of the nobility, but a lot of smaller stones remained, so they thought of making something out of them in the 14th century, resulting in this altar decoration.
It incorporates 1300 pearls, 300 emeralds, 300 sapphires, 400 semi-precious stones, 100 amethysts, and some rubies and topazes. To see this exhibit, you have to pay an additional 7 euros.
The frescoes inside the church are done with the most expensive technique – mosaic, inspired by the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. A total of 8,000 square meters of mosaic with gold leaf was created.
On the left is the depiction of Jesus in St. Mark’s Basilica, on the right is Jesus from the Hagia Sophia, now in Istanbul.
Fortunately they couldn’t steal and transfer the mosaics from the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople to Venice. They tried but it only caused damage; they had to master that technique themselves to replicate the magnificent atmosphere that existed in the Hagia Sophia.
The depiction of seraphim: left in St. Mark’s Basilica, right in the Hagia Sophia. Even the position of the seraphim is the same in the church.
The end result was truly magnificent and although St. Mark’s Basilica is much smaller than the Hagia Sophia, it still resembled its model. Conceived in sin, the daughter church reminded of its violated mother.
The interior of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice strongly resembles the Hagia Sophia. Oil on canvas.
Venice was built on plundered wealth. The sheer quantity of war booty plundered by Venice is best illustrated by an anecdote: when Napoleon conquered Venice in the 18th century, he took several tons of gold from the treasury, originally from Constantinople—six centuries later.
Pirates Built a Church
In the beginning Venice was founded by the Veneti, Western Slavs or Wends. Hungarians still refer to Slovenes as Wends. It was a fishing village on marshy islands. They engaged in a bit of trade and fishing and a bit of piracy.
The turning point came when they stole the relics of evangelist Mark from Alexandria from Muslims (828 AD). They hid the relics under pork to smuggle them out.
The theft of the relics of evangelist Mark hidden under pork meat so that Muslims wouldn’t find them.
When the relics arrived in Venice, they were placed in the old basilica, which was previously dedicated to St. Theodore. That church was made of wood and burned down, so a new basilica was built for St. Mark’s relics. Initially, the basilica wasn’t particularly special until the conquest and looting of Constantinople when it became crammed with artworks, columns, statues, and gold.
Transformation of St. Mark’s Church before and after the conquest of Constantinople.
The Venetians tried their hardest to make their new church resemble Hagia Sophia, but even with all the stolen wealth, they couldn’t replicate the domes built by Justinian in Hagia Sophia. The domes of St. Mark’s Basilica are fake, as you can see in the church’s plan.
Cross-section of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. The domes are fake.
The fall of Constantinople and who is to blame?
There are no doubts about who was to blame for the fall of Constantinople and what happened. The Venetians themselves proudly depicted it in the paintings adorning the walls of the Doge’s Palace. The paintings average 5 by 10 meters in size, making everything very clear.
The Doge’s Palace was the seat of power in Venice, housing the senate, and naturally, they showcased what they were proud of and the moment when they became independent and wealthy.
The Surrender of Constantinople, painted by Tintoretto in 1598. Painting in the Doge’s Palace in Venice.
In this painting, the scenes of battles on the walls of Constantinople can be clearly seen, with Crusaders, who sailed from Venice, climbing the walls and jumping from the masts of galleys onto the city’s walls. Byzantine chroniclers of that time confirm these scenes.
Constantinople under attack by crusaders, painted by Jacopo Palma in 1587.
Another painting on the same theme shows Catholic Crusaders and mercenaries attacking the walls of the Orthodox Empire.
Baldwin of Flanders elected as the emperor of Constantinople by Doge Dandolo and leaders of the crusade. Oil on canvas by Andrea Michieli.
Constantinople was conquered. The Vatican finally executed a coup with Venice’s help. The Pope summoned mercenaries from across Western Europe, and Venice provided ships, weapons, and additional troops. After the victory, Baldwin of Flanders came to Venice, where the Doge and his comrades chose him as the first Latin emperor of Constantinople.
The coronation of Baldwin of Flanders as the Latin emperor of Constantinople.
The coronation of the new Roman Catholic emperor. Everything was depicted clearly to leave no doubt about who brought whom to power.
The central composition of the Senate Hall in the Doge’s Palace is this painting. On the ruins of the old Roman Empire, which was Orthodox and later called “Byzantine,” a new empire arises with the doge in power, by divine providence.
Western historians introduced the information that the schism between Catholics and Orthodox occurred in 1056. However, many historians disagree with this. Neither was 1056. the first nor the last schism and popes envoys continued to participate in Orthodox Church councils even after that date.
The conclusion of the great church historian Frank Romanides is that the true schism happened only in 1204. after the conquest of Constantinople. I completely agree with this and would add that Jesuit historians shifted the date of the schism a century and a half earlier to conceal the treachery of the attack on Constantinople.
Before 1204., Venice was at least nominally Orthodox and respected the authority of Constantinople as much as the Vatican did.
Jewish Ghetto and Crypto-Jews
In Venice and other states of Italy at that time, there was a disgraceful alliance between Christians and Jews. Such a thing was unimaginable in Orthodox countries where Jews were marked as anti-Christians, meaning usurers, prone to corruption, cunning, ready for blackmail, price gouging, slave trading, of dubious morals and the like.
It is known that the first banks emerged in Italy when the Medici family began lending Jewish money to Christians. Similar things happened elsewhere, where noble ruling families covertly worked with wealthy Jews on loans and trade.
The same goes for Venice, where there existed a Jewish ghetto. Jews were forbidden to mingle with Christians and many Jews over the centuries were converted to Roman Catholicism. Thus, crypto-Jews emerged who cherished their origins but were now integrated into society.
William Shakespeare wrote “The Merchant of Venice,” which specifically deals with a Jewish merchant in Venice.
Interestingly, in the Nomocnon of Serbian Orthodox church, Saint Sava in Chapter 49, the Constantinople monk Nikita from the Studite monastery writes to the Latins and asks them where they got the idea to make liturgical bread without yeast? Did they perhaps learn it from their Jewish friends?
Also, it is very interesting that the term “Levitical service” appears here in the Nomocanon.
Feast in the House of Levi, a huge oil on canvas by Paolo Veronese, 1571, Venice.
This painting was located in the Benedictine Monastery of Saints Peter and Paul in Venice. Its dimensions were 5 by 13 meters. When it was made, the author had to answer before the Inquisition for freely representing the theme of the “Last Supper.”
However, this painting of the “Last Supper” was scandalous, and Veronese ended up in front of the Inquisition court. Instead of the Last Supper, he created a banquet. In place of Mary, there is a dog, there are drunkards and fools, and St. Peter is trying to tear a piece of lamb. There is no trace of reverence and religiosity, as if the painter wanted to say that Christ is not that important, the banquet is what matters. The painter was actually celebrating the nature of Venetian society.
The issue was resolved by changing the name of the painting from “The Last Supper” to “Feast in the House of Levi.” Now, the question arises whether the House of Levi was actually Jewish?
The motivation for creating this painting is actually found in the Gospel of Luke, where it says:
Isn’t the hidden message of this painting precisely the sentence “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners (Jews)?” Isn’t this a depiction of the moment when Roman Catholicism emerged, i.e., the sublimation of Christians and crypto-Jews? In the future, we will witness the emergence of the theory of “Judeo-Christianity” and watch as the history of Christianity is falsified.
When Napoleon disbanded Venice as a state, noble families’ records were burned. By searching the surname Levi in Venice, we quickly come across the Ugo and Olga Levi Foundation. Ugo is described as a Venetian bourgeois Jew from a wealthy banking family. The question is, do these Levis have any connection to the painting?
Either way, in Venice, a new version of Christianity emerged, now known as Roman Catholics. I dare say that this new variant of Christianity emerged in Italy in the 12th century by modifying Christian customs under the influence of Jews. This is precisely what is testified in Chapter 49 of the serbian Nomocanon, where they are called “Latins” and “those who, together with the Pope, fell away from the faith.”
Jews are rarely mentioned in Venice because they converted to Catholics with church permission; however, this was allowed only for wealthier families, while the poor continued to live in the ghetto. It wasn’t until the 18th century that Napoleon liberated the Jews, dissolved the ghetto and allowed ordinary Jews to live wherever they wanted in the city.
Of course, even the Catholic Church couldn’t change the Holy Scripture, so cooperation with Jews and their conversion was done discreetly. In public, they couldn’t mingle or be equal with Christians.
Nevertheless, the spirituality of the new Western Christianity, which would be much more liberal in interpreting God’s laws, slowly began to emerge. This new faith would become the seed from which the new culture of Western Europe would arise, where it would not matter what faith you belonged to, but whether you were loyal to the ruler and shared the same financial interests.
Instead of historical truth and human rights defended by Orthodoxy, a rule of the merchant class emerges, using the church as a tool for wielding power. They will change historical truths according to their needs and bribe ordinary people by pushing them into sin, calling it civil liberties.
I did not understand chapter 49 of St. Sava’s Nomocanon until I visited Venice again, and then everything suddenly made sense. The Orthodox accused the Latins of infusing Jewish customs into their church. And indeed, in the West, a new Christianity was emerging, albeit heretical, but extremely financially successful.
Today, poorly informed about Orthodoxy, like parrots, repeat the term “Judeo-Christianity,” not understanding the oxymoron it represents and that this term actually conceals uniatism and ecumenism, not original Christianity.
Oil on canvas in the Doge’s Palace, “The Mocking of Christ,” 1529.
Renaissance and the Birth of the Western Bloc
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Western European peoples languished for centuries in the “dark ages of the Middle Ages.” Fascinatingly, while there was darkness in the west, the east experienced the “golden age” of the Byzantine Empire. However, the world was about to change, as dark clouds loomed over the Orthodox empire.
Muslims increasingly threatened the Byzantine Empire. On the other hand, Western European merchants from Venice and Genoa grew stronger. Since Muslims had separated from Christianity in the 7th century during the iconoclasm period, we can freely say that the Byzantine Empire would fall under attacks from heretics from both the east and the west.
It is clear that the conquest of Constantinople was the spark that led to the creation of Western Europe and the Roman Catholic faith. However, the question arises: what were the main ingredients from which the new Europe was created on the ruins of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire? I would say they are the following:
- A covert alliance of Jews and Catholics, the creation of the first banks.
- Plunder, occupation, and forced conversions as means of establishing dominance.
- Diplomatic and trade relations with the Turkish Empire.
- Wealthy and educated Greeks who moved from Constantinople to Venice and other cities in Italy and Europe, thus sparking the “Renaissance.”
This mix would eventually lead to the control of world trade, the development of banking, and the invention of the printing press.
In the next 200 years, Venice would achieve many conquests. However, under the influence of Jewish worldviews, their conquests did not aim to possess vast territories and create a large nation, but rather to conquer key ports to control trade routes.
Venetian Republic Conquests
Today’s history suffers from writings and theories taken from Venetian historians without much criticism. They were the first to write the Western version of world history. Thus, the Orthodox Roman Empire disappeared, and Byzantium emerged. Similarly, the idea of the Holy Roman Empire in the west, which is the successor of ancient Rome, and the theory of the 1054 schism, gradually emerged. This thesis still forms the main tenet of Western historiography and identity today.
Even today, the situation has not fundamentally changed: the Western bloc is still in power, Greece and Turkey are western allies. Wars are still being fought over the control of trade routes, through which oil, consumer goods, migrants (modern slaves) and drugs travel today. Jews remain a crucial link in banking and I would say they have risen to the very top of power.
Venice is depicted as the “queen of the sea”; this is the vision projected by Venetian nobility. Neptune offers her his treasure. Very symbolic.
Over the centuries, conversion to Catholics has been refined, first through the printing of books and Jesuit “enlightenment,” then through media propaganda, and today the focus has shifted to the internet. The goal remains the same: writing their truth and history, educating people according to the Western value scale, and popularizing their culture. Unfortunately, I must say that, from my Orthodox perspective, this culture contains many elements of Satanism.
The story is not simple and goes on: Venice was once the center of the world, as we might say about New York today; then it was replaced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was then succeeded by England, followed by the rise of the Masons, and the center of the world shifted to America. And here we are today. It is still about an alliance of Catholics-Protestants-Jews-Greeks and Sunni Muslims (Turkey, Saudi Arabia…).
Some might say that Satanism is too strong a word, but I ask you, what is “Judeo-Christianity” knowing that Judas was against Christ? So, what does Judaism translate to? The religion of the Antichrist.
Greetings to readers from Venice. We return to Serbia; Đurđevdan is coming soon.
Ovo je fascinantno!Pa sve i da se moze nama bi trebao citav vek samo da vucemo sve sto je pokradeno a pokradeno je 99% onog cime se oni hvale i sto im u ostalom sluzi kao neki “dokaz” velicine katolicke vere..uzas.Pa oni su nastali na pljacki i paljenu zivih ljudi na lomacama i to je cinjenica nisam ja to izmislio, uzas iskreno
Интернет додаје: премијер Bенизелос је из венецијанске породице грка, повратник. Тема за размишљање.
Израз „јудео-хришћанство“ је погрешан антиправославни израз. Тај израз у себи садржи све хришћане и све хришћанске деноминације, што представља озбиљну глупост. Тај језуитски израз и сорошоидни новоговор треба забранити за употребу, па ће онда нека научна будала морати да употреби конкретан израз „јудео-православно-хришћанство“, па да га онда и наши и њихови, као лудака сместе у лудницу где би му било место.
Сви језици се треба држати конкретног и егзактног смисла говора, па би тако ове људе из данашње теме требало назвати „јудео-римокатолици“ па бисмо одмах знали на кога се мисли.
Следећи добар пример су „јудео-бољшевици“. Њих можемо лако препознати као неприкосновене учеснике у власти новоформираног СССР. Конкретно, у тој власти је било 82,31% Јевреја. Значи, Јевреји Бољшевици – нико не може казати да је то лаж.
Христос Васкрсе.
Postovani Milose, nekoliko puta sam procitala ovaj Vas tekst. Malo je reci da ne fantasticno napisan. Hvala vam sto nas obrazujete. I molim Vas, skupite jednog dana sve ovo sto ste do sada napisali I objavite knjigu. Pozdrav veliki I samo pisite.
Хвала вам Зоро најлепште. Потрудићу се да направим неку књигу од ових текстова.
О овој пљачки, веровали или не, постоје документарне емисије на National Geographic kanalu, на History, itd. Lično sam gledao dokzmentatac.
Pozdrav Miloše ,
Baš nedavno nailazim na jednu knjigu o bazilici sv. Marka i gledam na slici ukradene predmete, i ispod piše “poklon iz Carigrada” hahaha. Baš smo se smijali supruga i ja.
:)