Ravenna

We are here in Ravenna for mainly this fact: its 1,500-year-old churches, decorated with best-in-the-West Byzantine mosaics.

Known in Roman times as Classe, the city was an imperial port for the large naval fleet. There is no longer a port here.

Sant'Apollinare is a basilica at Classe, about 3.6 miles from downtown Ravenna. (I know because we bicycled into town from here twice.)

Briefly a capital of eastern Rome during its fall, Ravenna was taken by the barbarians. Then, in A.D. 540, the Byzantine emperor Justinian turned Ravenna into the westernmost pillar of the Byzantine Empire. A pinnacle of civilization in that age, Ravenna was a light in Europe's Dark Ages. Two hundred years later, the Lombards booted the Byzantines out, and Ravenna melted into the backwaters of medieval Italy, staying out of historical sight for a thousand years.

Inside Sant'Apollinare.

The mosaics inside are important and included in the UNESCO listing for Ravenna. They show the transfiguration of Christ, St. Apollonaris with a flock of sheep and a charming landscape of flowers, trees and birds.

Ravenna's 1,400 year old Basilica di San Vitale with the most spectacular mosaics is downtown.

The Basilica di San Vitale, at 1,400 years old, is impressive enough on its own. But to see its brilliant mosaics still conveying the intended feeling that "this peace and stability was brought to you by your emperor and by God" is rare indeed.

There are scenes of apostles, the lamb on the twinkly ceiling, the beardless Christ astride a blue earth, and Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora (an aggressive Constantinople showgirl who used all her charms to gain power with — and even over — her emperor husband) in their lavish court.

San Vitale can be seen as the last of the ancient Roman art and the first of the Christian era.

This church was the prototype for Constantinople's Hagia Sophia built 10 years later, and it inspired Charlemagne to build the first great church in northern Europe in his capital of Aix-la-Chapelle, now present-day Aachen, Germany.

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, just across the courtyard from the basilica, is the humble-looking little mausoleum with the oldest — and to many, the best — mosaics in Ravenna. The little light that sneaks through the thin alabaster panels brings a glow and a twinkle to the very early Christian symbolism (Jesus the Good Shepherd, Mark's lion, Luke's ox, John's eagle, the golden cross above everything) that fills the little room.

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia alongside San Vitale is a surprisingly tiny building.

Galla Placidia was an important woman: born in around 390 AD, she was the daughter, sister, wife and mother of Roman emperors and had a full and colourful life. This building was built as her tomb; however she died in Rome.
The ceiling is a blue field of little gold stars, with a cross in the centre and symbols of the Evangelists at each corner.

The town's greatest mosaics have been given UNESCO World Heritage status.


Thanks to Rick Steves for his help with my storytelling.