I was not prepared to for the age of the Churches and mosaics in Ravenna. Most of the places that I visited were built between the years 400 and 600 CE. Constantine had barely set up the Holy Roman Empire by this time.
I had booked a sweet little room in a place called Hotel Byron. My Italian is not good but I only had to lapse into English once trying to clarify how they charged for Internet service. The breakfast they served was enough to keep me going all day.
There has been a continuous gentle rain for three days and it is a good time to enjoy the indoor sites. The city charges one price for a ticket that allows entry to all the major places. The one thing that I missed was the Ravenna Museum, closed on Monday.
The Basilica of San Vitale was my first stop, enormous church, built in the mid 500's. So modern and so secure to my eyes. The mosaics were so strong and sophisticated that this artistic culture must have been a strong part of Ravenna even before the Christians. We know that the Romans and Etruscans both had wonderful traditions of mosaics, but I suspect that this area must have been the center.
The second stop was a small masoleum, created for one of the top leaders of Ravenna, in the late 400's. One sarcafocas was created for the wife of the leader but she died while away and was buried in a different place.
The museum of acheology that I visited had wonderful stone tributes from Roman times to the dead, the equivalent of our tombstones. With the bit of Latin that I remember I could pretty much decipher most of the stones. Things liked "to my most faithful husband", "to my wife who took care of the family", "to Felix Gracius, nobleman and loyal servant of the people." Most were simple and warm.
These stones were found in the 1500's when one of the churches built in the 500's was refurbished and partially rebuilt. When they took the floor stones out, they found on the other side were all of these stone monuments with the tributes on the other side. I would have photographed many of them, but photography was not permitted in the museum.
The Basilica of Saint Apollinari (the new) was my last stop and again a great treat for me. a sixth century building, very long with three tiers of mosaics. The top one, hard to see, excerpts from the life of Christ. The Second and the one closest, figures of men and women, the wall of Ravenna. Next to the Basilica was a mosaic workshop. It is studio where people take classes and work independently on mosaics. Many lovely mosaics were on the wall for sale. Most went for 100 Euro for small ones all the way to 2000 Euro for larger pieces. Most were copies of classic pieces from the city. But I saw the Mona Lisa in mosaic, the city of New York, several famous Ravenna Basilicas and other modern subjects. One woman was working on a large traditional mosaic as were there. I wanted so much to snap a few photos of the more interesting pieces, but alas, "no photos".
Exploring the city I found little places that were not in my guidebook. I found a cute litte baptistry, a little below ground, in a little nook behind some stores. It was free to visit and two women (probably volunteeers) sat there. I asked if could take photos and she said only "no flash".
And the Church of the Blessed Apostle, St John the Evangelist. There were few people inside, but Gregorian Chant played through the speakers. Along the sides of the Church were beautiful little mosaics, very old and no sign that I could find (or translate) that told me how old.
Actually as I left a busload of people began to enter the church.
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