Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs
Four porphyry emperors frozen mid-embrace on the corner of St Mark's — one of their feet is still in Istanbul.
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Looted from Constantinople in 1204, these two armoured pairs once stood in the Philadelphion. They represent Diocletian's tetrarchy — four men splitting Rome to keep it alive around 300 AD. One pair has been sawn vertically through their locked arms; the other is missing a chunk of plinth and an emperor's foot, which turned up in Istanbul.
What to look for
- The vertical cut sawing through one pair's embracing arms — the saw-cut runs the full height of both figures, splitting their interlocked arms in two
- The incomplete plinth on one pair where a foot is absent (it was found in Istanbul)
- The dark porphyry console beneath the figures, carved from the same stone as the emperors themselves
On the exterior corner of St Mark's Basilica façade; no ticket needed — just look up at the corner.
Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs is one of 38 sights worth the detour in Venice, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Venice pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Venice
- St Mark's BasilicaThe Doge's private chapel turned war-trophy hall — every marble slab and bronze horse was taken from somewhere else.
- Doge's PalaceGovernment offices, a jail, and the Doge's private rooms — all under one Venetian Gothic roof on the lagoon edge.
- Grand CanalVenice's main street is water — a 3.8 km reverse-S where noble families spent fortunes trying to outshine each other in stone and marble.
- Piazza San MarcoNapoleon called it "the drawing room of Europe" — then stripped it of its four horses and shipped them to Paris.
- Rialto BridgePredicted to collapse before it opened, this single-span stone arch has carried Venice's Grand Canal traffic since 1591.
- Bridge of SighsLord Byron named it in the 19th century — condemned men crossing in 1600 took their last look at Venice through stone-barred windows before the cells closed behind them.