Explore Ravenna, city of mosaics

In this episode, I'm gonna take you to Ravenna, a wonderful city of mosaics, a port city, a capital city of the late Roman Empire, a Visigoth capital and lifeline to Constantinople. Everybody, today I'm in Emilia-Romagna. I'm on the Adriatic coast, about a four-hour drive from Rome. And what is Ravenna? Ravenna is such an incredible historic city. Already in the early imperial period, It's a port city, it's a military port, very important for the Romans. But it takes on new meaning when the Emperor Theodosius moves the empire's capital from Milan to Ravenna. And then it becomes that great lifeline to the empire in the east. And a great protagonist that's here is Theodosius' daughter, Gala Placidia. And we can see some things today that are associated with her in the second quarter of the 5th century. But at the end of the empire, the end of the Western Empire in the 5th century, you have the rise of other rulers in Italy. First, the Germanic military leader, Oriacher was ultimately displaced and defeated by Theodoric, the Ostrogoth. And we can see his tomb here. And when we look at the remains of Ravenna, we have a great city, an important harbor town, a military port. We also have Palatium, we have the palace of the representatives of the emperor that will be here throughout the period of Byzantium. Because by 540, Belisarius is reconquering the West and is reconquering Ravenna. And then it remains for a while that lifeline, that connection in the Western part of the empire to the capital in the east in Constantinople. So what do you have as a result? A magnificent city. And what can we see of it today? We can see incredible churches, incredible architecture, amazing mosaics. I wanna show you now some of my favorite places in Ravenna. We start off with the so-called Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, which is definitely attributed to her residence in Ravenna. We see a sarcophagus right here, probably for the burial of members of the Theodosian dynasty. But it was not her burial site. She was actually buried in Rome. We know that for a fact. But what we have here inside is magnificently created mosaics and they are attributed to the time of Galla Placidia. She was the daughter of Theodosius I. She was the mother of Valentinian III and she was the regent. She ruled in his name when he was a child. She was initially married to the king of the Visigoths and then she was married to Constantius III in 421 and she died in 450. And these beautiful mosaics are contemporary with her life and underlines her residence, the court, the artisans, the best of the empire are here decorating her buildings, including this mausoleum, which would have been for family members of the Theodosian dynasty. Built slightly thereafter, we have here the Baptistry of Naon, named after the bishop in charge who led to its construction at the end of the 5th century. And it was followed by the Arian Baptistry. Now this is constructed when Ravenna had fallen under the power of the Germanic ruler, Odoacer. His reign ushered in the end of the Western Roman Empire when Romulus Augustulus was deposed in 476 and Odoacer ruled as king of Italy until 493. Constructed in about 495, we have here the Archbishop's Chapel constructed by the Archbishop Peter II. And there's a lot of visual language that is anti-Arian. What does this mean? Well, Odoacer was finally deposed by Theodoric the Ostrogoth in 493. And Theodoric ruled most of Italy from 471 to 526. Odoacer and Theodoric were Arian Christians who believed that Jesus, the man, was subordinate to God the Father in contrast to the Orthodox interpretation of the relationship between God the Son and God the Father as being the same. So in this reign, there's a different visual language. And we have three monuments that underline the rule of Theodoric, the Arian Christian in Ravenna. Let's take a look. Let's start with San Napolinare Novo. This is Theodoric's chapel, which was right next to his palace, poorly preserved. It was dedicated originally in 504 to Christ the Redeemer. And a lot of the visual language with the mosaics that is so well-preserved reflect his belief system as an Arian Christian. But what's really well-preserved are two beautiful processions. They date to about 620, well after the reign of Justinian. And the processions show two different activities. One is 22 virgins are processing toward the Virgin Mary and child. And the other one is depicting the procession of 26 martyrs going to Jesus. And the starting point for those martyrs is the magnificent Palatium, the Palace of Theodoric. We can see how beautiful that palace once was in the mosaic. Here's what remains of the Palace of Theodoric in Ravenna today. And the point of departure for the virgins is instead the town of Classus, which was 2 1⁄2 miles from Ravenna, where you had the ancient fleet. You can still see ships right there by the walls of that once magnificent city, the military harbor of ancient Rome. From this view, we can see one of the processions amidst the spoliated columns. And up above that procession with the windows, that's all the original contemporary mosaics dating to the time of Theodoric. We can also admire the Mausoleum of Theodoric that was made of Istrian stone. Its domed cap weighs over 230 tons. It was later converted into a Christian oratory. That's why it's so well-preserved still today. In the vicinity of the so-called Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, we have the Church of San Vitale. Its construction began in 526 when Ravenna was still under the rule of the Ostrogoths. And the Bishop Maximian is the one who completed its construction in 547, right before the Emperor Justinian created the Exarchate of Ravenna that marked the successful reconquest of the western half of the Roman Empire. Now, the building is a combination of Roman and Byzantine architectural elements, especially with those exterior flying buttresses. The famous mosaics that we can admire here together were completed in 547. Now, in this mosaic, we have the Empress Theodora with a golden halo, crowned wearing jewelry, and she's surrounded by women of the court and eunuchs. And she holds in her hand the Eucharistic vessel of the blood of Christ. In the other mosaic, we have the depiction of the Emperor Justinian wearing the royal purple. He has a golden halo. He's standing next to his generals, the Thessarius and Narcissus, the Bishop Maximian, his Palatine guards, and deacons. There are many other details, original details of the church that we can admire, like the floor mosaics that we see here, just spectacularly preserved. And we also have the capitals that should remind you of the capitals in the Hagia Sophia. So, so many rich details of this church. Let's pass on now to Santa Polinare in Classe. Now, this was constructed in 549 by the same Bishop Maximian and dedicated to Santa Polinares, the first Bishop of Ravenna and Classe. And what we have here is a much larger church, so magnificent, and the best preserved portions that we can see here will be the mosaics in the apse. And the decoration of the apse dates to the 6th century and can be divided as such. In the upper zone, you have a huge disk, which has the starry sky and a cross decorated with jewels. And the lower part, you have a lush valley scene that's landscaped with bushes and plants and birds. And in the middle, Santa Polinares, depicted in the act of praying to God. On the sides, you have two 7th century panels that have been largely restored. One is of the Emperor Constantius IV, giving privileges to the Archbishop of Ravenna. And the other panel shows Abraham and Abel over an altar as they're offering a sacrifice to God. There's a whole series of sarcophagi dating from the 5th to the 8th century that give us a sense of the wealthy prestigious individuals that lived in classes just outside of Ravenna. Thanks for joining me in this introductory video on Ravenna. Don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter at DariusRADigs.com and travel with me. Check out the information at UnlockRome.com.