Bordered by the Sansovino Library and the Ducal Palace and overlooking the Basin of St Mark, it is a most fascinating square. On the quayside there are two high columns brought here from the East in the 12th century.
These granite columns are crowned with Veneto-Byzantine-style capitals on which stand the Lion of St Mark (on the column next to the Ducal Palace - this is a copy of the original which is kept in the porch of the courtyard of the Ducal Palace) and St Theodore (on the column next to the Sansovino Library).

Before the legendary purloining of the body of St Mark, the patron saint of the city was in fact St Theodore.