In 828, Venetian merchants stole the supposed body of St. Mark the Evangelist (who wrote the Gospel of Mark, and is possibly the John Mark mentioned in Acts) after negotiations to purchase the body failed. However, it is possible that they got the body of Alexander the Great instead. The church at Alexandria maintains that his head, at any rate, remains in Alexandria. St. Mark replaced St. Theodore Stratelates as patron saint of Venice—a rather more high-powered saint than the St. Theodore. A church was constructed in honor of St. Mark, with the present basilica replaced it, constructed from about 1073 - 1117.