Tuesday 27 July 2023
Ravenna is an odd city. It’s flat, hot, with typical modern low-rise buildings lining typical streets filled with shops and cafes. Then you wander around a corner and, bam, there’s a 6th century church. Inside the church there may well be some Byzantine mosaics from about the same period. This is some of the most beautiful art surviving anywhere in the world from the “Dark Ages”.
We managed to pack in five different sites today, and a stop for lunch. Mainly by coincidence I think we saw them in increasing order of awesomeness.
First was the Archbishop’s Palace, now a museum but containing the ancient Chapel of St Andreas with a sky full of glittering birds. Nearby we went into the Neonian Baptistry, where Christ was being baptised on the ceiling surrounded by a cast of beautifully detailed and individualistic saints. In Sant’Appollinaire in Nuovo the church was on a grander scale and the lines of gender-segregated mosaic saints likewise. I love how each saint has his or her own little label. The fourth site was the most atmospheric: the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, a princess and ruler who had one amazing life that needs to become a film. The mosaics in the mausoleum are everywhere, with a consistent beautiful dark blue background, brilliant abstract patterns around the edges and a sea of stars overhead. Fifth and final was the church of San Vitale. It’s an amazing piece of architecture (inspired the Hagia Sofia) and has a whole host of wonderfully detailed mosaic scenes, including a great portrait of the glam empress Theodora.
Phew. It was all overwhelmingly brilliant, especially knowing that nothing like it exists anywhere else on earth. The churches and mausolea were also a relief with their enormous thick walls keeping much of the 32 degree heat outside! Later we had dinner outside at a famous wine bar called Ca’ De Ven – still probably 25 degrees and deathly still, it’s all a bit mad when you wish you were having your dinner at 8pm indoors instead of out.
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