Horses of Saint Mark

The only surviving complete ancient quadriga: four gilded bronze horses brought from Constantinople to Venice in the 13th century.

The Horses of Saint Mark – also known as the Triumphal Quadriga – are four life-sized gilded bronze horses from antiquity, the only complete ancient quadriga group to survive to the present day. Venetian crusaders brought them from Constantinople in the 13th century and placed them on the loggia of St. Mark''s Basilica. Napoleon had them transported to Paris in 1797 as war trophies, but they were returned after his fall. Today the originals are preserved in the Basilica''s museum while copies stand on the facade.