Ravenna
was the seat of the Roman Empire in the 5th century and then of Byzantine Italy until the
8th century. It has a unique collection of early Christian mosaics and monuments. The
following buildings, constructed in the 5th and 6th centuries, were inserted from the
Unesco in the list of the world-heritage patrimony of the Humanity: the Mausoleum of Galla
Placidia, the Neonian Baptistery, the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Arian
Baptistery, the Archiepiscopal Chapel, the Mausoleum of Theodoric, the Church of San
Vitale and the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe. They show great artistic skill,
including a wonderful blend of Graeco-Roman tradition, Christian iconography and oriental
and Western styles.
Basilica
di San Vitale, Ravenna. Ravenna's most
impressive monument is certainly the Basilica of S. Vitale. The church is octagonal and
built of large flat bricks (48 x 4 cm), plastered together with thick layers of lime (4
cm), a type of brickwork typical of all the buildings erected by Justinian. It is
constructed on two eight-sided storeys, of which the upper encircles the dome. Each upper
storey face has a big arched window, but the windows in the bottom half of the building
are smaller and form two orders separated by a slender cornice. The Church was consecrated
by Maximian in 547 or 548. The church of S. Vitale is a
unique example of byzantine art; firstly because it blends in a most original way eastern
and western styles into its architecture and secondly because its mosaics are complete and
express with great clarity the ideology and religiosity of the Justinian era which has
been defined by the historians as the First Golden Age of Byzantine Art.
Bell tower, Basilica di San Vitale,
Ravenna.
Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna.
Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna.
Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna.
MAUSOLEO DI GALLA PLACIDIA
Mausoleo
di Galla Placidia, Ravenna. The small
cruciform building standing near the massive Basilica of San Vitale and known as the
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia was erected in the second quarter of the fifth century A.D. as
a satellite building to the Church of Santa Croce, being situated at the southern end of
the narthex of the Basilica which the Empress had previously built there. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is one of the most
extraordinary monuments of Late Antiquity which have come down to us, both for its
architecture and decoration. Built to the shape of a Latin cross (m. 12,75 x 10,25) it has
a plain bare exterior fabric of short and large bricks divided by a 2 cm layer of lime, a
traditional feature in the architecture of the whole of North Italy. Over the crossing of
the two arms of the cruciform building is a dome made of bricks and concealed on the
exterior by a small quadrangular tower. The interior of the Mausoleum displays a lavish
amount of decoration: in its lower part it is covered by panels of yellow marble, whereas
in its upper part it is completely covered with mosaics.
MUSEO DANTESCO, CHIESA DI SAN FRANCESCO AND DANTE'S GRAVE
Dante's
grave, Ravenna. It's a small construction in neoclassic style, in which are buried the
remains of Dante Alighieri. Every year, the second week of september, in occasion of the
anniversary of the dead of the poet, is celebrated a ceremony with the offer of the
oil from part of the municipality of Florence. The Poet, exiled
from Florence, after several peregrinations, reached Ravenna towards 1317. In Ravenna he
was received from Guido Novello da Polenta, lord of the town. In the Church of San
Francesco the Franciscans celebrated his solemn funerals (september 1321).
Museo
Dantesco, Ravenna. Situated near the tomba of Dante, the museum is
structured in sections that collect performances inspired to the work of the Poet:
illustrations, pictures, medals and coins.
Chiesa
di San Francesco, Ravenna. The Church was built in 5th century and was dedicated to the
SS. Apostles, then to S.Pietro Maggiore but nothing remains of original church, because in
the 10th century it was completely rebuilt, in this period was also built the square
bell tower. The church is very simple. Here in 1321 were celebrated the funerals of Dante
Alighieri that was buried near the church.
SANT'APOLLINARE IN CLASSE
The
basilica of S. Apollinare in Classe is situated approximately 5 km from the center of
Ravenna.
It was built by Giuliano
Argentario on order of the archbishop Ursicino during the first half of 6th century. The consecration took place on May 9th in the 8th year
following the Council of Basil, that is, in 549 AD.
Sant'Apollinare in Classe has been
described as the 'most impressive example of the Early Christian basilica.' It's one of the more perfect basilicas of Ravenna; beyond
to its architectonic structure it is famous for the mosaics and the marble graves of the
old archbishops. On left of the basilica is the high cylindrical bell tower, datable after
the 9th century.
Sant'Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna.
The
basilica, which is 55 m. long and 30 m. in wide, is majestic and imposing. Onto the
central body of its façade, framed by two pilasters, is incorporated the narthex,
terminated to the left by a quadrangular room with its own upper floor (a turret), which
had its counterpart at the opposite end, though long since lost: traces of it, however,
have come to light. The right-hand turret, similarly, is lost. The basilica would have had
an even more grandiose aspect, originally, than it has today. In fact, apart from the lost
right-hand turret, it lacks the quadriportico which ran in front of the narthex (itself
largely rebuilt at the beginning of the century) and which, according to recent surveys,
was wider than the basilica proper, extending over the north and south rooms (an expanded
quadriportico). The basilica, built out of the so-called 'Julian bricks' (each about 4 x
48 cm, divided by a layer of mortar of equal thickness), was built on an old burial
ground, in use from the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd century, up until the time
of the basilica's erection (middle of the 6th century). Therein, the first bishop,
Apollinare himself, was interred, in a sarcophagus situated half way down the southern
side of the basilica; at which point, there is an epigraph, believed to be of the 6th
century, stating that the urn of Apollinare was transferred inside the church at the time
of Maximian, (in hoc loco stetit arca apolenaris sacerdotis et confessoris ... ).
Interior Sant'Apollinare in Classe,
Ravenna.
Mosaics, Sant'Apollinare in Classe,
Ravenna.
Inside, the
basilica is characterized by a spaciousness that gives the feeling of entering a dimension
which is both abstract and transcendent, imposing in its grandeur and majesty. It is
divided into three naves by two rows of twelve columns, all of the same veined Greek
marble, originating in the Sea of Marmara (A.Agnello), resting on dadi decorated with a
lozenge motif, something very common in Constantinople and in the Eastern world generally.
The interior space is well-proportioned: the central nave being equal to twice that of the
side naves. Apart from the priceless columns on their dadi, the fine capitals are worthy
of attention for their motif - referred to as "acanthus leaves stirred by the
wind", from the impression they give of the sculptured leaves being swollen as if by
a breath of wind. Between the arches and the side walls of the central nave are to be seen
cameo portraits from the 18th century representing the bishops and archbishops of Ravenna.
The original floor was a mosaic of geometric motifs: fragments of it have been uncovered
at the end of the left nave, in the middle of the central nave (now placed on the
right-hand wall of the church) and at the beginning of the right nave: in this last, an
inscription commemorates 'Gaudentia' and 'Felix', the names of two benefactors of the
church who contributed with their own money to the laying of the floor. The opulence of
its interior must have been magnified by the precious marble that dressed its side walls -
until it was removed by Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta at the beginning of the 15th century
to adorn the temple he was having built in Rimini. Originally, on the side walls, there
were three doorways. The basilica ends in a semi-circular apse which has a poligonal form
on the outside, flanked by two square rooms, each with its own little poligonal apse
(pastophoria), an oriental usage which became part of the Ravenna tradition.
