To enable as many people as possible to see the small interior, each visitor is only allowed 5 minutes inside. The iconography used represents the victory of eternal life over death. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light and I caught my breath at the sight of the lavishly decorated interior made of thousands of pieces of coloured glass. Having waited briefly outside in a small queue, I passed through the doorway. It is one of the earliest of Ravenna’s monuments built in the 5th century AD by Galla Placidia, the sister of the emperor Honorius (although it is believed she is buried in Rome rather than in this mausoleum).Īs was the tradition, the exterior is rather plain and gave no clue to the wonders inside. When we arrived in Ravenna we headed straight to our first stop, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Ravenna may not be as well known as the likes of Venice, Florence or Rome but it is well worth visiting for its stunning 5th and 6th-century early Christian mosaics built first by the Romans, followed by the Ostrogoths, and then the Byzantines. The Byzantine Empire’s control of Ravenna ended in 751 when the city was conquered by the Lombards (although the empire itself lasted until Constantinople was taken by Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire in 1453). However, in 540, when the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian, the greatest Byzantine ruler, came to power, he defeated the Ostrogoths and made Ravenna the western capital of his empire, the “Constantinople of the West.” Their most notable king, Theodoric the Great (454–526) built some of Ravenna’s most impressive monuments including the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, the Palace of Theoderic, and the Mausoleum of Theodoric. Meanwhile, Ravenna was now under the rule of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, the eastern branch of the Goths, a Christian Germanic tribe. In the east, however, the empire continued to exist with Constantinople (now Istanbul) as its eastern capital. The Roman Empire fell, in the west at least, when the last emperor Romulus August was deposed in 476. In 402, the Roman Emperor Honorius moved the capital from Rome to Ravenna marking the start of Ravenna’s heyday and the building of some extraordinary monuments. However, by the 5th century AD, its borders were under constant attack. The Roman Empire was founded in 27 BC and flourished for several centuries. It fell under Roman control in 191 BC and became the base of the Roman Republic’s naval fleet.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |