Sarah and I woke up early to make it to Piazza Savonarola before 7:30. We met Mary, Lara, and Anne (one of the Syracuse librarians) and hopped on one of two buses that was going to Ravenna. I had never been there before but was really looking forward to it since I knew that it was, at different times, the capital of the Roman Empire, the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, and the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. Oh, and I hear they have some mosaics.
Our first stop was actually in Classe, a town about two miles south of Ravenna. We arrived at around 10:30. We were only in Classe to see one church, the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare. But first Mary decided to take advantage of a large pot outside the church to create a photo op.
Once inside the church, Rocky Ruggiero (our main guide and expert from the History Channel's Engineering an Empire: Da Vinci's World), seen above, proceeded to give us about 500 years of Ravenna's history in about five minutes. Then Emily, another guide, told us a little about the mosaic in this church.
Here's St. Apollinare. He's famous 'round these parts. He was the first bishop of Ravenna and Classe. The church was consecrated in 549.
Sarah strolls through my picture. This church, as well as the Florence Baptistry that we saw the day before, were preparing us for the highlight of the trip: the mosaics of San Vitale in Ravenna.
Lara, Mary, Sarah, and Anne mingle between churches.
After our very brief stop in Classe, we were back on the buses and on our way to Ravenna.
Sarah and Lara loiter on a wall near San Vitale. At this point I'm going to switch the order in which we saw things, but you'll never notice. We actually went into San Vitale first, but I'm going to save that for the next posting.
This is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. It is said to have the earliest and best preserved mosaic monuments, according to UNESCO. The ceiling seemed pretty low. We were told that it was because the mausoleum has sunk into the ground.
It was built between 425 and 430. It was really dark inside. The only light was from the four small windows that were covered with thin transluscent stone.
The mausoleum was named for Galla Placidia (392-450). She was the daughter of Emperor Theodosius the Great (the last sole emperor of a united Rome). She was the half sister of Emperors Arcadius and Honorius. She was the wife of Emperor Constantius III. She was the mother of Emperor Valentinian III.
There are three sarcophagi in the mausoleum. One is supposed to belong to Galla Placidia, although the contents were supposedly burned a long time ago. The other two are supposed to be for Constantius III and either Honorius or Valentinian III.
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