Mosaics and Mausoleums

"to Charles Ryder, with the aid of whose all-seeing eyes I first saw the Mausoleum of Galla Placida and San Vitale..." (Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited)

San Vitale

I had wanted to visit Ravenna ever since reading these words in Brideshead Revisited.

The brief mention of Charles Ryder's 'economical' Easter vacation in Ravenna with his friend Collins, who considered the mosaics to be inferior to their photographs has stuck in my mind ever since I first read this book whilst at school. Spending a week in Bologna, an easy train ride away, finally gave me the opportunity.

On arrival, we went first to St Apollinare Nuovo, and purchased a ticket that gives admission to five of the UNESCO World Heritage sites for €9.50.  The church was built in the late 5^th or early 6^th century on the order of Theoderic, and was originally intended for Arian worship.  After 540, when the city was occupied by the Byzantines, all the Arian buildings were taken over by Catholics, and the church was rededicated to St Martin of Tours. The current name originates in the mid-ninth century, when the relics of St Apollinare, the first bishop of Ravenna, were ostensibly moved there from the basilica of St Apollinare in Classe. It was called St Apollinare Nuovo to distinguish it from a smaller, older church in the city also dedicated to St Apollinare.

In front of the original façade is a marble portico dating from the 16^th century.  There is also a cylindrical bell tower some 38 metres high which dates from the ninth or tenth century.

The baroque apse and 17^th century ceiling are beautiful, but it is the mosaics which visitors really come to see. Even though I was expecting them, the mosaics were stunning. Legend has it that Gregory the Great (the pope who sent missionaries to England) ordered them to be blackened and covered up as they were too distracting for those at prayer.

Next we visited Battisterio Ariano. This was built in the late fifth century as the baptistery of the Arian Cathedral, at a time when Arianism, a heretical doctrine which disputed the divinity of Christ and thus disagreed with the view of the Trinity as God in three persons, was the official court religion. The baptistery was re-consecrated in the Orthodox tradition in 561.  The only surviving mosaic decoration in the interior is in the dome, which shows the baptism of Christ. The design is a similar to that in the Neonian Baptistery, which clearly provided the inspiration, but is much simpler.

After passing through the Piazza Populo, we visited the Basilica St Vitale. This basilica was founded by Bishop Ecclesio following a journey to Constantinople with Pope John I in 525. It was consecrated in April 548.  Unlike St Apollinare Nuovo, it does not have the traditional three naves, but is octagonal in shape with a central core beneath a dome.

The mosaics cover the walls and vault of the presbytery and the conch of the apse and. In the apse is a mosaic showing Christ presenting a crown to St Vitale with his right hand.  To the other side is Bishop Ecclesio, carrying a model of the church.  Below these are beautiful mosaic portraits of the Empress Theodora and the Emperor Justinian. The arch surrounding the apse is decorated with a motif of cornucopias, birds and flowers.

Nearby is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the daughter of Theodosius I. Built in the second quarter of the fifth century it is one of the oldest monuments of its kind, and its mosaics are the oldest in Ravenna.

The mosaics are rather different from the others, as the artistic style is Roman rather than Byzantine.  I was particularly struck by the midnight blue of the sky and the depictions of pairs of deer.

Galla Placida had a very interesting life. She married twice, firstly to a barbarian called Ataulf, and later to Constantius III, with whom she had two children, Honoria and Valentinian. She ruled Ravenna for many years, as empress, and later as regent for her son Valentinian. Despite the name, her remains were never housed in this mausoleum. She died in Rome and is buried in the Theodosian mausoleum there.

Neonian Baptistery

The Neonian Baptistery, our fifth port of call,  is the oldest of Ravenna’s surviving ancient buildings, having been begun in the  late fourth or early fifth century. The mosaics, however, are as not as old as those in the Mausoleum of Galla Placida, as they were not added until the mid-fifth century at the behest of Bishop Neone.

The design of the mosaics in the centre of the dome is similar to that of the Arian Baptistery, which it inspired, with Christ depicted at waist-depth in the river Jordan, being baptised by John the Baptist, clad in a goatskin. But the saints in the decorative band surrounding this medallion are not portrayed with haloes. Below this, are alternating decorations of empty thrones and thrones with crosses or altars.

The last stop on our tour of mosaics was the Archiepiscopal Museum, housed in the bishop’s palace.. One of the highlights of the collection is the sixth century ivory throne of Bishop Maximian, and a marble calendar showing the dates of Easter for the years 532 go 632 AD.  The building also includes the chapel of San Andrea, the private chapel of the Bishops, with more mosaics of the Apostles and other saints and a warrior Christ.

After a stop for a lunch of salami piadine we set off in search of Dante’s tomb.

Dante Alighieri died in Ravenna on the night of 13/14 September 1321 whilst in exile from Florence and was originally buried under a small portico in the church of San Francesco. In 1519, Pope Leo X authorised the transfer of the poet’s remains to Florence, but when the Florentines arrived to collect them they found the tomb empty as the monks had broken in and removed the body already.  They kept it hidden for centuries and the remains were only finally placed in the original sacorphagus after they were rediscovered during excavations in 1865.

The current tomb building was erected in 1780 at the request of Cardinal Legate Luigi Valenti Gonzaga, whose coat of arms can be seen above the entrance.   A lamp hanging from the ceiling burns olive oil from Tuscany which is provided by the city of Florence. But that was not the end of Dante’s travels. In a nearby courtyard is an ivy-covered mound which marks the place where his remains were buried for safekeeping during the second world war.

Our final visit was to the Duomo.  The first cathedral on the site was built in the early fifth century, but all that remains of that are a few fragments in the museum.   The old cathedral, after many additions and alterations over the years, was demolished in 1733, and the current building was completed in 1743.  The bell tower, however, dates from the tenth century.

Inside the cathedral the effect of crimson brocade hangings on yellow ochre walls resembles a regency-striped drawing room.  Until, that is, you look in the Chapel of the Beata Vergine del Sudore, a very elaborate baroque chapel, also containing two late fifth century sarcophagai.

On our walk back to the station, we saw the ‘Palazzo di Teodorico’, the façade of a 6^th or 7^th century brick building.  The original function of the building has not yet been established. We also passed the church of S Maria in Porto, where sculptures from the modern art gallery next door struck an incongruous note.  

We had time for tea in the nearby park before catching our train back to Bologna.