The Temple Gallery

in association with ETR, Lausanne, Switzerland

17th – 22nd November 2016 REVISED ITINERARY JUST RAVENNA BYZANTINE GLORIES Ravenna Mosaics and Churches

Empress Theodora wife of Justinian the Great. Mosaic portrait in the Church of San Vitale, 6th century

Revised Itinerary for the Temple Gallery

Just to Ravenna

17th - 22nd November, 2016

£1,600

Thursday 17th November: London BA 0540 dep. 08.40 to Bologna arr. 11.45 then by coach (2/3 hours) to Ravenna Byron Hotel 18th Friday: Orthodox Baptistry; Archiepiscopal Chapel (Dante’s Tomb); Arian Baptistry; Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo 19th Saturday: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia; Basilica of San Vitale; Antiquities Museum 20th Sunday: Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe; Tomb of Theodoric. National Museum of Ravenna (includes a collection of icons). 21st Monday: San Giovanni Evangelista (426 AD. 13th-century mosaics depicting the Crusades). Church of St. Eufemia, recently discovered important archaeological site comprising 14 rooms paved in colourful marble mosaics of a private 5-6th century Byzantine building. 22nd Tuesday, return to London

‘The average western European reader may have a fairly clear (if not entirely accurate) picture in his mind of ancient Rome; but where Byzantium is concerned – about which, in this country at least, there seems always to have been a conspiracy of silence – he has always remained a little vague.’ So writes John Julius Norwich in his introduction to the Penguin edition of Robert Graves’ Count Belisarius.

The trip we are planning here will go a long way to dispel that vagueness. My own lifetime of study has convinced me that seeing ourselves - situated in what we call the ‘history of western civilisation’ - is somewhat flat until we include a third dimension; namely, Byzantium. Without Byzantium there would have been no Orthodox culture in Russia and no Renaissance in Europe. In fact, as we shall see, from the 5th century and for the next thousand years, Italy was intimately bound up with Constantinople; Ravenna and Sicily, at different times, being part of the Byzantine Empire. We may begin to see this in perspective as we experience the wonders, miraculously preserved, of Byzantine art concentrated in Ravenna and Sicily, while Venice ‘the hinge of Europe’ connects us to the religious, artistic and intellectual supremacy of Constantinople.

Today our social issues are churned in the mill of politics and economics whereas in Byzantium theology and religion were the energies that galvanised all levels of society. The forces poured into the creation of churches and mosaics in Ravenna and Sicily flowed from the highest spiritual, philosophical and artistic aspirations of that creative age. They can still energise us and provide us with insights into the great truths that Galla Placidia and people like her sought to understand and live by.

Ravenna

O lone Ravenna! many a tale is told Of thy great glories in the days of old: Two thousand years have passed since thou didst see Caesar ride forth to royal victory.” ( Ravenna, Oscar Wilde’s 1878 Newdigate Prize-winning poem)

“Of all the cities in Romanian lands, The chief, and most renowned, Ravenna stands, Adorned in ancient times with arms and arts, And rich inhabitants, with generous hearts.” (The Divine Comedy, Inferno, 1320 by Dante Alighieri)

…‘unequalled collection of early Christian mosaics.’ (Italian Hours, 1909 by Henry James)

Built as a naval port by the Emperor Augustus in the first century, Ravenna later became the pivot between Byzantium, or the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Western Roman Empire of which it was the capital after the fall of Rome in 410. In the 5th century it came under the rule of Theodoric the Great, one of history’s most fascinating characters. Theodoric, the great Ostrogothic general, had a privileged childhood in the imperial court at Constantinople. A brilliant and ruthless soldier, he regained Italy from the failing Western Empire dominated at the time by the Goths. He ruled from Ravenna, where his mausoleum survives, together with several churches he had decorated with mosaics. Like most of the Germanic tribes Theodoric followed Arian Christianity and this is reflected in the details of some mosaic decorations. Although Arianism was considered a heresy by the Orthodox, both forms co-existed peaceably during his reign. After Theodoric’s death Ravenna returned to Byzantium and eventually was the capital of the Kingdom of Lombardy. Eight early Christian monuments of Ravenna are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Orthodox Baptistry or Baptistry of Neon

The oldest surviving monument (and all that survives of the Orthodox Cathedral demolished in 1733) in Ravenna built, circa 400. Called the Orthodox Baptistry to distinguish it from the Arian Baptistry built fifty years later by Theodoric. Named after Bishop Neon who presided over its construction. Carl Jung wrote of a visionary experience when he was here in 1930 by which Galla Placidia was related with his personal anima.

Archiepiscopal Chapel

This tiny oratory contains the highly unusual image of Christ dressed as a warrior trampling on a lion and a snake. Possibly an expression of anti-Arian views, circa 500

Mosaic of St Paul, 6th cent. Archiepiscopal Museum Ivory Throne of Archbishop Maximian, 6th cent. Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

The Good Shepherd, early 5th c, mosaic still in the ‘naturalistic’ or Hellenistic style of early Christianity. Byzantine iconography would soon avoid, for example, the contraposto of the central figure. Aelia Galla Placidia (388 – 450), a fastidious, highly educated devout Orthodox Christian, was related through family or by marriage to six Roman Emperors and two Barbarian Kings and, from the age of nine, was a major force in state politics. She was the daughter of Theodosius I, (379 – 395) the last emperor to rule over the whole of the Roman Empire and the granddaughter of Valentinian I. She ruled as Regent for Valentinian III from 423 until his majority in 437. She was consort to Ataulf, King of the Goths from 414 until his death in 415, and briefly Empress consort to Constantius III in 421. She was also sister of the Emperors in the West Honorius and Arcadius. Placidia sponsored the restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and built numerous churches.

Arian Baptistry

Built by Theodoric who was an Arian Christian. In his reign Arian Goths and the Orthodox Christians lived peaceably together worshipping in separate buildings. Elsewhere in the Empire, and eventually everywhere, Arianism was eradicated with severity. Some regard the Empty Throne here as a reference to Arianism. However it may refer to an aspect of esoteric Christianity, i.e. to a truth beyond or higher than the capabilities of the human mind. We will meet the theme again in Saint Mark’s in Venice.

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo

Mosaics from the reign of King Theodoric (496-526).

Repression of Arianism. After Theodoric’s death mosaic restorers ‘airbrushed’ him (or most of him) out of the picture.

Mausoleum of Theoderic

Built in 520 and perhaps the inspiration for the Coronet Cinema in Notting Hill Gate

Basilica of San Vitale (548)

The building has two ambulatories, one above the other, circulating the central space. The continuous movement of columned arches, barrel vaults, apses and semi-domes gives the space a most pleasing, almost operatic, effect. The church was begun by Theodoric’s daughter Amalasuntha and finished in 540, just at the time that Justinian regained Ravenna for the Empire. It was the model for Charlemagne’s 9th century Palatine Chapel in Aachen.

Justinian accompanied by representatives of the Army, Officials of the Imperial Court and the Church, the foundations of his status as the most powerful man on earth.

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe

Unusual symbolic representation of the Transfiguration. The church was built by the banker Julian Argentarius and Ursicinus Bishop of Ravenna between 526 and 547. (Ravenna reverted to Byzantium in 540)