Horses of Saint Mark

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The replica Horses of Saint Mark.

The Triumphal Quadriga or Horses of Saint Mark is a set of Roman or Greek bronze statues of four horses, originally part of a monument depicting a quadriga. They date from late Classical Antiquity and have been attributed to the Greek sculptor Lysippos, although this has not been widely accepted.

By some accounts the horses once adorned the Arch of Trajan. The horses were long displayed at the Hippodrome of Constantinople, and in 1204 Doge Enrico Dandolo sent them to Venice as part of the loot sacked from Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade. They were installed on the terrace of the façade of St Mark's Basilica, in Venice, Italy, in 1254.

In 1797, Napoleon carried the quadriga off to Paris where they were used in the design of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and in 1815 the horses were returned to the façade of St Mark's Basilica. Due to the effects of atmospheric pollution, the original quadriga was moved inside and replaced with a replica in the 1980s. The original horses are displayed just inside the basilica from the terrace.