How Many Baptisteries is Too Many?

After yesterday’s shallow dive into the world of Ravenna’s antiquity, today we decided at breakfast that we would dive right into the deep end and see for ourselves what all the fuss is about concerning Ravenna’s great claim to fame: the mosaic capital of Italy.

We started our on-foot tour with a small local monument, the Arian Baptistry, or as it’s called here, Il Battistero degli Ariani. It’s ocatagonal, and its ceiling is a mosaic of delight in greens and pale turquoises with a central image of Christ’s baptism by John in the Jordan River. Arianism was an off-shoot of orthodox Christianity, deemed a heresy at the First Council of Nicaea (325), but this gorgeous baptistery, probably built at the order of Theodoric who reigned 493-526, is old, very old. Interestingly, apart from modern art, this is the only artwork I have seen where Christ is naked. Generally, he is always modestly covered. The colour of the mosaic work is as fresh as if it had been put up there last week.

From the Arian Baptistery, we headed into the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. This church was also built by Theodoric, in 505, as an Arian place of worship, but was consecrated in the 6th century and given its present name in the 9th century. It had a refurbishment although the highest of the Byzantine Arian work, the apostles and prophets, were left untouched. In 1916, the basilica was bombed and suffered immense damage, the images of which caused outrage around the world, so I believe.

The mosaics are once again, extraordinary. Two long rows of images atop marble columns go down either side of the nave, again green and gold being the preponderant colours. The nave is left open with no pews, just a grand space.

After a sojourn in a nearby park, we made our way to the Orthodox Baptistery. It is also called the Neonian Baptistery after Bishop Neon who worked on it in the early years of the 5th century His predecessor started it and completed it in 450. Neon took over in 458 and did important structural works including the dome. It is called orthodox in the sense that it was not a building of the Arian heresy. Like other Byzantine works, it is octagonal and inside, the whole dome is covered in mosaic consisting of three concentric circles: Christ’s baptism by John, the twelve apostles togate, and four altars with open Gospels and empty chairs for the future saints triumphant. Viewed as a whole, the ceiling is very striking. Its dominating colours are blue with gold. The font in the centre of the room is a 16th century addition, but the stairs to the font are original.

We stepped into the Museum associated with the Baptistery and adjacent cathedral. We saw, among many artefacts, a mosaic masterpiece in the Cappella di Sant’Andrea, a modest little chapel lined with beautiful mosaics.

Our history day ended with a cold beer at a local bar. While it has been hot all day, the maximum reaching 34°, we did not have to endure the oven heat of Firenze of 39 and 40°. A rest and nap back home in the afternoon at Casa Masoli and to save a bit of dosh, we’re eating in tonight.Read more