Alexandria, Egypt, and its port

The artwork

On the left, inside the walls next to the Cairo Gate, a Latin inscription points to a stone: beneath it, it warns, the body of Saint Mark was found, later brought to Venice. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, with a handmade frame.

In 828, two Venetian merchants, Buono from Malamocco and Rustico from Torcello, carried it away. It is said that they hid it in a basket beneath pork so that the Muslim customs officers would keep their distance. In Venice, Saint Mark became the city's patron saint; his head, according to Coptic tradition, remained in Alexandria. In June 1968, Pope Paul VI returned a fragment of the relics to the Copts, which he had received from the Patriarch of Venice: today it is in Cairo, in the Cathedral of Saint Mark.

It is a copperplate engraving from the second volume of Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg's Civitates orbis terrarum, published in Cologne in 1575. The cartouche at the top reminds us that the city was founded by Alexander the Great and that inside the walls it is full of ruins, yet as large as Paris. At the top right, on a promontory, is the column known as Pompey's, which in fact was erected for Emperor Diocletian; below, the port with ships and a tower that the print calls "Pharus," like the ancient lighthouse. This uncolored copy is part of the David Rumsey Map Collection.

For those who have seen Egypt or dream of it, and for those who know the Basilica of Saint Mark by heart, it is a gift to hang in an entryway or next to a bookcase. And on the left, beneath that stone, Saint Mark's place has remained empty.

Materials of exceptional quality

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm
With frame: 31 x 44 cm
Material: artwork printed on the finest handmade Amalfi paper with deckle edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass