The Churches of Ravenna

The churches of Ravenna are many, diverse, and very interesting. Follow the links below to some of the stories and pictures from each.

Mausoleo di Teodorico	Basilica di San Vitale	Mausoleo di Galla Placidia	We aren't sure...
Basilica di San Apollinare Nuovo	Mausoleo di Dante	Basilica di San Francesco	Basilica di San Giovanni
	Battistero degli Ariani	Basilica di San Apollinare Classe

Mausoleo di Teodorico

This mausoleum was built by the king Theodoric (Teodorico in Italian) during the middle 6th century. This building is noteworthy for several reasons. It was the first building we visited in Ravenna. It had the loudest echo. All of the rock used in the construction is from across the Adriatic. The vaulted ceiling is made from one solid piece of stone 3 feet thick and 100 feet (33 meters, in fact) in diameter.

It was intended to be a tomb and is now largely empty. Some of the sculptural details, though, are still there and interesting.

Mausoleo di Galla Placidia

Galla Placidia lived in the early 5th century and played a central role in the history of Ravenna. Her uncle was the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire while her son was the Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. For 25 years, Galla Placidia provided protection and peace to Ravenna.

This monument to Galla and dedicated to Saint Lawrence was built between 425 and 430, with a few modifications over the ages. Although the outside is rather plain and simple, as are most of the churches of Ravenna, the interior is breath-taking.

The mosaics are deep in color and in detail. The ceiling shown below has a cross pointing East and watched by the golden symbols of the four Evangelists: the lion of St. Mark, the ox of St. Luke, the eagle of St. John, and the man of St. Matthew. Apparently in early Christian symbology, these images represented the focus each writer took in their gospels.

The interior of the building was rather dark since clear window glass was not used. Instead, rock (it looks like agate to me) has been cut so thinly that it is now transparent and is used as a window.

In addition to the religious symbolism, the mosaics are arranged in a geometric pattern reminiscient of a Flischer drawing. Again, this is of interest since this science of perspective was not developed until the 16th and 17th centuries, but here is a first attempt at 3D effects from 1100 years earlier.

Mausoleo di Dante

Dante lived in the 14th century and is credited with creating, through his writings, the modern Italian language. He died in 1321 and was placed in a sarcophogas near the present masoleum. It was not until 1780 that the present building was built. To this day, it remains an important place for pilgrims and students of the Italian language.

Basilica di San Francesco

This church is considered important because it is the church at which Dante worshiped. It is named after St. Francis because it was given to the Franciscans in 1261--although it was originally constructed in the 5th century. Since then, the church has suffered much at the hands of God and man and it was only in 1921 that it was restored to something approaching the original condition.

Unlike many of the churches from this age, the interior has chapels filled with the large, detailed statues of the later ages. There are mosaics, but they are largely limited to the floor of a flooded crypt located directly beneath the chancel. We were able to look in, but the pictures did not come out.

Ariani Bapistry

As it was explained to us, you were not permitted to enter a church unless you were baptized. To accomodate this rule, churches often had a bapistry located near the front entrance of the main church. This bapistry was located outside the main entrance of the Church of the Holy Spirit.

In what was a fairly common practice, old traditions and Christian symbology were mixed. In the ceiling mosaic, God the father, shown as a river god and the source of the Jordan river looks on while John the Baptist baptizes Jesus with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.