I mosaici

All of us have that list of places that we must see, and sometimes we get tantalizingly close, but just not there. Ravenna was on my list for many years and although I have been in Italy a number of times, and even close by, I did not get to see the mosaics for which Ravenna is famous until 2005 --and last week!

But before we go to Ravenna, I cannot let our American mosaics escape a note. We just elected Barack Obama with an electoral map of the country and each state as dazzling as the mosaics in Ravenna for the message they carry --every small speck of color makes the picture sparkle. And a mosaic of a single color has no impact. While I am squarely in the blue, I can appreciate what a little red can add... the whole world can appreciate this as well... and take a deep breath. The whole world will have a different view of America since this election... let us have a different view of ourselves --and realize that we are a vibrant mosaic of colors-- and not a muddy pot of sameness. Yes We Can. ...and thank you Tina Fey.



The history of Ravenna is the history of the end of the Roman Empire (and this election could have been the beginning of the end of our country as well for many of us...). These great mosaics are from the 6th century, and the churches where they are found are Byzantine in style. A little history here... the Roman Empire as we are familiar with fell in 476 AD when Odoacer, from one of the Germanic tribes (the Visigoths had sacked Rome in 410 AD), deposed the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus (okay, I did not just recall this history, although like 1066, 476 AD is forever etched in our brains since high school... and thank you, Wikipedia, et al!) Theodoric became the person in power of the Western Roman Empire --the empire was seated at Byzantium (Constantinople), and the emperor was at this time of the late 400's, Zeno. Theodoric had spent time in Byzantium with Zeno and interestingly, this area had been "romanized" in terms of its military and government, and treatment of citizens. Zeno was disturbed by Odoacer, who was not acting Roman but rather like a barbarian, and he sent Theodoric to resolve the problem. After several defeats of Odoacer on the Italian peninsula in the north, Theodoric proposed to make peace with Odoacer. Over a celebratory dinner in Ravenna, Theodoric solved his problem permanently, allegedly with his bare hands (sounds like a Dick Cheney maneuver...).
He then became the de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire.

Theodoric was a follower of the Arian sect of Christianity (Arianism was started in Alexandria by Arius in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Arians did not believe that Jesus was one and the same with God the Father --they believed that Jesus was created by God the Father (unbegotten) as a "creature" as in human being --only begotten-- son, and that together they created the Holy Spirit, who was subservient to them. In short, they did not believe in the Trinity. This dispute was discussed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, called by Constantine I. The Arians were condemned, and the council adopted the Nicene Creed (which all Catholics and most Christians recite from heart at mass with no idea of why it is so important --and interesting!-- in the history of the Christianity). Those words, "eternally begotten by the Father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father ...We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, With the Father and the Son , he is worshipped and glorified...", confirm the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Trinity as the cornerstone of belief in most of Christianity.

Theodoric had been rather tolerant of both beliefs until the true believers started persecuting the Arians in Constantinople, and he started retaliating against the Catholics in Ravenna (he died before all the churches were destroyed and there was no equivalent of the French Revolution that battered lots of historic art in French churches). Thus, the mosaics in Ravenna that were completed in churches of Arian beliefs, portray Jesus as more human than divine. And some of these Arian churches were later corrected! There is one baptistery that was "ortodossi" (Catholic) --and not Arian-- surviving.
These pictures showing Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist are from two baptisteries --the top photo is from the Battistero degli Ortodossi and the lower one from the Battistero degli Ariani-- note that Jesus has a halo around his head in the upper photo, demonstrating his divinity... in the Arian bapistry, Jesus is shown without this symbol. The figure in both holding the trident represents the River Jordan.



There are several churches, San Vitale, San Apollinare Nouvo, and San Apollinare in Classe (the name of the city outside of Ravenna is Classe, and it was the old Roman port --now surrounded by land), that we visited.
San Vitale was consecrated in 548 and is built as an octagon --the mosaics below: Jesus, Abraham ready to sacrifice Isaac, the Emperor Justinian, and the exterior of the basilica.


















San Apollinare in Classe was consecrated the year after, in 549.












In San Apollinare Nuovo, the restoration of the mosaics shows where Arianism has been corrected!


















And there are tombs... the oldest is the tomb of Galla Placida --built in the middle of the 5th century for the Empress Galla Placida, who is actually buried in Rome where she died... and it was quite dark! It is hard to see, but the ceiling is covered with deep blue and gold...





I have included pictures of the outside of all of these structures --they are all made of brick and without ornamentation. Of course, entering one of these buildings, you are dazzled... you simply have to raise your eyes to their heights and absorb their splendor --definitely worth the wait to see them-- and even better the second time.