Ravenna : Italy
Thusnelda, widow of Arminius, and Marbod, King of the Marcomanni, were confined at Ravenna. After 404 when Ravenna was the imperial residence, the city gained its most famous monuments, both secular (demolished) and Christian (largely preserved). The 18th century cathedral occupies the site of the 4th century basilica, Christianized by Bishop Ursus about 380 AD. No vestige remains however of the secular palaces of Honorius. The earliest churches have scarcely fared better: Sant’ Agata, a basilica of three naves, (San Pietro in Classis was torn down in the 16th century, to make room for fortifications); San Giovanni Evangelista, (largely rebuilt in Gothic style and stripped of its mosaics in 1747); part of Santa Croce; some columns in San Giovanni Battista. The most important is the square chapel of the archiepiscopal palace (dedicated to San Pietro Crisologo) with its mosaics.
The “tomb” of Galla Placidia, preserved by being made the church of Santi Nazario e Celso, which contains the finest mosaics of Ravenna, deserves special mention. It is built in the shape of a Greek cross, and has a cupola that is entirely in mosaics, representing eight apostles and symbolical figures of doves drinking from a vessel, a Roman motif; the other four apostles are represented on the vaults of the transverse arm; over the door is a representation of Christ as the Good Shepherd, young, beardless, with flowing hair, and surrounded by sheep; opposite, there is a subject that is interpreted as representing St. Lawrence. There are three sarcophagi; the largest is said to have been that of Galla Placidia, and that her embalmed body was deposited there in a sitting position, clothed with the imperial mantle; in 1577, however, the contents of the sarcophagus were accidentally burned.
