Ravenna, or, Singing In The Rain!
On Monday evening, I travelled from Bologna to Naples. Which left me the entire day at my disposal, but unfortunately it didn't just rain, it poured, cats, dogs, and Tribbles for good measure. And most of the museums were closed, plus I had already visited those I most wanted to see, and the one archive I had meant to go to on Monday originally was closed as well.
So I took the train to nearby Ravenna and did something I never had gotten around to; I saw the Byzantine mosaics there. Now I had already packed my suitcase and in it was my camera, which means you get only mobile phone photographs of Theodora, Justinian and Galla Placidia. As it turned out, this was just as well, because I'm nearing my monthly bandwidth limited again, which means the photos of fair and foul Naples will have to wait until June. But cell phone photos of Ravenna were just within the limit.
Of course I started in San Vitale. Which was started by the Ostrogoth king Theoderich and finished by Justinian, hence the Byzantine splendour within. This is what it looks from the outside:
But behold!
On the details. Theodora, bearkeeper's daughter (the title of my favourite fictional depiction of her, a novel by Gillian Bradshaw), dancer, courtesan and empress. A tour guide kept explaining to some other undefeated by rain travellers she was the Evita of her day, which, hm, Procopius would agree, but it somehow strikes me as not quite fitting. Though both women certainly beat the odds against them in a massive way.
Justinian. Definitely had a far longer influence than Peron, given that the Codex Justinianus was the basis for European law for centuries to come:
More San Vitale splendour:
Now let's move next door, where there is the mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Who didn't just want to be an empress, but the empress, to misquote a certain book series turned tv show. Galla Placidia was the sister of a Roman emperor, was captured by the Goths when he was defeated, scandalously married her captor (she may not have had a choice, but what she made of that position was incredible), rode and ruled and fought at his side (i.e. against Roman troops), then, after they had been king and queen for years and he died, she returned to the Romans, married the most promising general, who became emperor and died not too long thereafter, leaving her empress and regent for their kid son. So there. After her death, well into her son's adulthood, neither Roman nor Goths dared to demolish her mausoleum, which is why it still exists.
And that's her tomb:
On to some other churches. No outsides, it was raining too damn much.
And more Baptisteriums, small, round and from 400 to 600 AD:
Detail: that's John the Baptist, Jesus... And the personification of the River Jordan.
Let's hear it for some bishops:
You know, I would have turned it, but safari has no flash so photobucket won't let me.
On to the baptisterio degli Ariani.
Old man Jordan is part of the scene again:
So is this guy, who does not look pleased. Who says mosaic artists can't be satirists:
And thus I conclude my brief excursion to Ravenna!
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/781386.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
So I took the train to nearby Ravenna and did something I never had gotten around to; I saw the Byzantine mosaics there. Now I had already packed my suitcase and in it was my camera, which means you get only mobile phone photographs of Theodora, Justinian and Galla Placidia. As it turned out, this was just as well, because I'm nearing my monthly bandwidth limited again, which means the photos of fair and foul Naples will have to wait until June. But cell phone photos of Ravenna were just within the limit.
Of course I started in San Vitale. Which was started by the Ostrogoth king Theoderich and finished by Justinian, hence the Byzantine splendour within. This is what it looks from the outside:
But behold!
On the details. Theodora, bearkeeper's daughter (the title of my favourite fictional depiction of her, a novel by Gillian Bradshaw), dancer, courtesan and empress. A tour guide kept explaining to some other undefeated by rain travellers she was the Evita of her day, which, hm, Procopius would agree, but it somehow strikes me as not quite fitting. Though both women certainly beat the odds against them in a massive way.
Justinian. Definitely had a far longer influence than Peron, given that the Codex Justinianus was the basis for European law for centuries to come:
More San Vitale splendour:
Now let's move next door, where there is the mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Who didn't just want to be an empress, but the empress, to misquote a certain book series turned tv show. Galla Placidia was the sister of a Roman emperor, was captured by the Goths when he was defeated, scandalously married her captor (she may not have had a choice, but what she made of that position was incredible), rode and ruled and fought at his side (i.e. against Roman troops), then, after they had been king and queen for years and he died, she returned to the Romans, married the most promising general, who became emperor and died not too long thereafter, leaving her empress and regent for their kid son. So there. After her death, well into her son's adulthood, neither Roman nor Goths dared to demolish her mausoleum, which is why it still exists.
And that's her tomb:
On to some other churches. No outsides, it was raining too damn much.
And more Baptisteriums, small, round and from 400 to 600 AD:
Detail: that's John the Baptist, Jesus... And the personification of the River Jordan.
Let's hear it for some bishops:
You know, I would have turned it, but safari has no flash so photobucket won't let me.
On to the baptisterio degli Ariani.
Old man Jordan is part of the scene again:
So is this guy, who does not look pleased. Who says mosaic artists can't be satirists:
And thus I conclude my brief excursion to Ravenna!
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/781386.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.