Tuesday 2 October. There is a heaven. We found it when we walked into the Basilica di San Vitale, consecrated in 547 and containing some of the most cherished mosaics anywhere in the world. They are absolutely beautiful and it is difficult to imagine that they have survived for more than fourteen centuries. The scale is enormous; the apse is a huge, vaulted-domed structure and all of the walls and the ceiling are covered in the most exquisite mosaics, depicting biblical scenes from the time of Abraham and perhaps the most well-known mosaics in the world – Emperor Justinian (who constructed the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople 532-537) and his ministers on one side of the apse, and his Empress, Theodora, and her ladies-in-waiting facing him from the opposite side. We were there for over an hour, just taking it all in and trying to commit as much as we could of this wonderful place to our memory.
That was just the start. From there we walked to the Mausoleo di Galla Placido, which holds the oldest mosaics in Ravenna, then to the archaeological museum to view more mosaics and historical artefacts from the sixth century, including an exquisite sixth century ivory bishop’s throne. Then a walk through a small garden which contained a beautiful bright-red celosia, a flower that even Elizabeth had not seen before. We continued on through churches, battisteros, then a long walk to the Tomb of Theodoric the Great, who became emperor of the western Roman Empire after he and his Visigoth army defeated the Roman army. He effectively made Ravenna the capital of the Roman Empire (in the west only; Constantinople remained capital of the eastern Roman Empire until it fell to the Ottomans in 1453). Theodoric’s mausoleum is constructed of huge uncemented blocks, with a 300 tonne dome. Back to the main old town area, a couple of churches – with mosaics – on the way, and to the Basilica di Sant’ Apollinaire Nuovo, built by the Goths in the sixth century and containing the longest continuous mosaic still extant. Among other things it features twenty-six white-robed martyrs and twenty-two virgins, as well as the three wise men, approaching Christ and his apostles.
It is impossible to express in words the overall beauty that these mosaics contain and the sense of awe that you feel being able to look at them. It leaves you spell-bound. Fortunately, a triple gelato cone at the end of the day brought us back to the present.
Tomorrow: more of the same, a bit wider afield.
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