Via Romea Germanica Day 89: Ravenna

Ravenna sta come stata è molt’anni

(Ravenna stands as it long years has stood)

- Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, Inferno XXVII

Tomb of Dante in Ravenna 

Dante Alighieri spent the last twenty years of his life in Ravenna, as well as some time earlier, during his years in exile. But the city he saw was already long past its age of glory as a capital city and a commercial and military power in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D.

I began my exploration at the city's oldest monument, the Orthodox baptistery or Neonian baptistery beside the cathedral, built under the bishop Ursus in the late fourth or early fifth century on the site of a former Roman bath, with mosaics added 50 years later by order of the bishop Neon.

Next door is the Archepiscopal Museum in the former Bishop's Palace, containing the private chapel of the bishops of Ravenna, built between 494 and 519.

Scenes carved in the ivory bishops' throne

The sixth-century intricately carved ivory  archbishops' throne is on display in the room beside the chapel. The museum also contains bits and pieces of ancient Roman/early Christian sarcophagi and inscriptions, and an complicated Paschal Calendar engraved in stone, useful for determining the exact date of Easter in the years between A.D. 532 and 626.

In an adjacent room are mosaic fragments from the old cathedral, dated 1112, offering a rare opportunity to see mosaics of this type close up and appreciate details such as the shading of the hair and skin.

The cathedral was, unfortunately, rebuilt in the 18th century. But I went in to ask for a stamp on my pilgrim credential, and almost put an end to my walk by falling down the (invisible) step on the way out of the sacristy in the semi-darkness!

Next on my agenda was the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, containing the oldest mosaics in Ravenna. Empress Galla Placidia, who ruled over the Western Roman Empire between A.D. 423 and 437, died in the year 450 in Rome and was buried there, and so the building is believed to have been used by the Empress and her family as a place for the worship of holy relics, rather than a tomb.

Next to the Mausoleum stands the Basilica of San Vitale, commissioned by Emperor Justinian and consecrated by the Archbishop Maximilian some time between A.D. 546 and 556. In the presbytery are Byzantine mosaics depicting scenes of sacrifice from the Old Testament, as well as the famous depictions of a youthful Christ in glory and of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora, completed in 547.

When your neck starts to ache from looking up at all these ceiling mosaics, you can rest it by looking down at the floor instead.

After all these mosaics, I was ready for a break! I met up with Rita, a fellow ospitalera (volunteer in pilgrim hostels) who lives in Ravenna, for lunch in a historic restaurant, Ca' de Ven, which has some beautiful ceilings of its own!

Lunch was a traditional piadina romagnola flatbread with squacquerone cheese and rucola, accompanied by a glass of Sangiovese. We sat for some time discussing pilgrimage walks and comparing our experiences on the Via Francigena in the more desolate parts of France, then went out for ice cream and talked some more! 

Rita gave me some pointers on other places to visit in Ravenna,  and I set right out to see them. But first I stopped by the last church included in my cumulative ticket, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. This Arian church was originally dedicated in 504 AD to "Christ the Redeemer". In 561 Emperor Justinian, who suppressed the Arian church, rededicated the church to Saint Martin of Tours, a foe of Arianism; mosaics which were overtly Arian in theme, or glorified the Emperor, were removed or altered. It is said that Pope Gregory the Great went so far as to order that the mosaics in the church be blackened so that their golden glory would not distract worshippers from their prayers. The basilica was renamed again in 856 AD when relics of Saint Apollinaris were transferred from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe to protect them against the threat posed by frequent raids of pirates from the Adriatic Sea.

A bit of history: Arianism

Arianism is a doctrine that rejects the notion of the Trinity, teaching that Jesus was created by God and is therefore distinct from God and subordinate to Him. This teaching is named after its proponent Arius (c. 256–336), and was embraced by the Goths and Ostrogoths in the early centuries of Christianity. The ecumenical First Council of Nicaea of 325 declared Arianism to be a heresy. 

Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, was begotten by God the Father, and therefore the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten/made before time by God the Father; Jesus was therefore not coeternal with God the Father, but nonetheless began to exist outside of time. While this was a matter of much debate and antagonism in the early Christian church, according to academic Everett Ferguson, "The great majority of Christians had no clear views about the nature of the Trinity and they did not understand what was at stake in the issues that surrounded it." I would have to agree: the whole issue sounds pretty much like splitting hairs to me!

Nevertheless, Arianism came to be regarded as heretical by most modern mainstream branches of Christianity; the best-known denomination of Christianity still embracing the doctrine of Arianism is the Jehovah's Witnesses. 

Just up the road from Sant'Apollinare Nuovo is the Arian baptistery, commissioned by the Arian Ostrogothic Emperor Theodoric. The mosaics look so fresh and bright, they might have been made yesterday - not by a heretical Ostrogothic king 1500 years ago!

Also adjacent to the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare is the building known as Theodoric's Palace, because of its similarity to the palace depicted in the mosaics in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo; but the construction never was actually a palace, more likely a fortified post for the guards defending the palace complex. It was excavated between1908 and 1914, primarily employing women workers as all the men had been conscripted to prepare for war; mosaics uncovered at this time are now on display in the building's upper level.

Just up the road from the "palace" is the church of San Giovanni, the oldest of all the churches in Ravenna, built by Empress Galla Placidia to give thanks for a safe crossing from Constantinople to Ravenna in stormy seas in A.D. 424. It became a Benedictine monastery around the year 1000. On August 21 and 24, 1944 the church was destroyed by Allied bombs, and following the war it was reconstructed using the original materials. Here too, surviving fragments of mosaic are on display. Entrance to this church is free; for the other main sights of Ravenna, a combination ticket is available for a very reasonable price. The locations included in this ticket are all made accessible to the visually impaired with Braille text and tactile reproductions of some of the most famous figures in the mosaics. Other sights around Ravenna have separate tickets, costing only a couple of euros but requiring mastery of a bewildering variety of ticketing systems (online by Vivaticket, via a vending machine similar to those used for pay parking, etc.).

San Giovanni 

Mosaic-ed out, I stopped by the Co-op supermarket to pick up something for dinner and supplies for the next day's walk, and then retired to my room - just as a thunderstorm broke out!

After resting in my room and heating my ready-made cannelloni for dinner, I put on my rain jacket, packed my remaining waterproofs into my folding day pack "just in case" the rainstorm resumed, and took the bus two kilometres back to Theodoric's Mausoleum. To celebrate European Heritage Days, the Mausoleum was open in the evening for a concert of Bach's Cello Suites 2 and 3, played by young cellist Luigi Visco of Cherubini Youth Orchestra. Tickets were on sale for a symbolic cost of one euro.

Because of the bus schedule I arrived half an hour early for the concert, and it was a good thing, because as soon as I was seated inside the Mausoleum, round two of the evening’s thunderstorms broke loose. Lighting flashed outside the slit windows of the massive stone Mausoleum, and water streamed in under the door, surrounding the giant red porphyry tub that served as Theodoric's sarcophagus. Amidst the storm, the cellist began to play, and for an hour all that existed was the stone walls and the sounds of rain and the musician's breathing, blending with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

When the concert was over, the rain had stopped entirely. Because of the violent storm, the audience was very, very small: the cellist's parents, the concert organisers,  and five other people! (A maximum audience of twenty could have fit into the space of the Mausoleum, which was why reservations were required to attendthe concert; but most of the people who had reserved failed to turn up.) When the music was over, I thanked the cellist and asked him to write in my pilgrim credential before walking the two kilometres back to my accommodation in the city centre.

The Mausoleum lit up for the concert