In spite of being one of the smallest areas in Venice, the San Marco district is the commercial and spiritual centre of Venice and contains the city's most famous landmarks, most of which are set around St Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco). It is also characterized by closely packed buildings and numerous narrow alleyways, filled with many shops, restaurants and hotels. The Piazza San Marco is the only piazza in Venice and in the past it was the main focal point of the city's political activities and remains the main gathering place for numerous fiestas including the Carnival (Carnevale).
On the eastern side of the piazza stands the spectacular Basilica San Marco, built to house and honour the remains of St Mark. This impressive building, with its five domes and the famed four bronze horses on the west façade, is truly representative of Venice's historical legacy where the East met the West. Inside the Basilica, Byzantine mosaics stand alongside restored frescoes painted by such Renaissance masters as Tintoretto, Titian and Veronese.
South of the basilica is the sixteenth-century Doge's Palace which houses a host of famous paintings, sculptures and historical relics. It was the former residence of the Doges, the ruling magistrates of the republic, who occupied the richly furnished apartments. The Bridge of Sighs spans the narrow canal between the Doge's Palace and the prisons and was so called from the 'sighs' of the prisoners who passed over it.
Facing the palace is the imposing campanile, a reconstruction of the original that collapsed in 1902. It was here that political and criminal prisoners were executed. Offering some of the best views in Venice, Gallileo showed the Doge of Venice his new invention, the telescope, from here in 1609. A large number of museums are within this district: the Museo Correr with Abbot Teodore Correr's extensive collection of Venetian art, the Museo Archeologico, the Museo Fortuny and the Palazzo Grassi.