What to See in Ravenna - Top Sights and Attractions

5th-century UNESCO-listed baptistery. The Arian Baptistry in Ravenna, Italy is a Christian baptismal building that was erected by the Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great between the end of the 5th century and the beginning of the 6th century A.D. at the same time as the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo.

Theodoric was an Arian Christian and decided to let the Goths (Arians) and the Orthodox Chalcedonian Christians live together but separately, and so there were separate neighborhoods and separate religious buildings.

Near his palace, the king commissioned an Arian cathedral, now called the Church of Spirito Santo, but originally named Hagia Anastasis (Holy Resurrection). It was re-consecrated as the Chalcedonian cathedral of Saint Teodoro (soldier and martyr of Amasea in Pontus) in 526 AD. Little remains of the original church after its reconstruction in 1543; some historians speculate that the original mosaics were lost over a thousand years earlier during its Catholic reconstruction due to Arian themes. During this same period, Theodoric also had the baptistry built, today referred to as "of the Arians" in order to distinguish it from the Baptistry of Neon (of the Orthodox) which is about one century older.^[7]

6th-century basilica church with mosaics. The Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo is a basilica church in Ravenna, Italy. It was erected by the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great as his palace chapel during the first quarter of the 6th century. This Arian church was originally dedicated in 504 AD to "Christ the Redeemer".

It was reconsecrated in 561 AD, under the rule of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, under the new name "Sanctus Martinus in Coelo Aureo" ("Saint Martin in Golden Heaven"). Suppressing the Arian church, the church was dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, a foe of Arianism. According to legend, Pope Gregory the Great ordered that the mosaics in the church be blackened, as their golden glory distracted worshipers from their prayers. The basilica was renamed again in 856 AD when relics of Saint Apollinaris were transferred from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe because of the threat posed by frequent raids of pirates from the Adriatic Sea.

Its apse and atrium underwent modernization at various times, beginning in the 6th century with the destruction of mosaics whose themes were too overtly Arian or which expressed the king's glory, but the mosaics of the lateral walls, twenty-four columns with simplified Corinthian capitals, and an Ambo are preserved. On some columns, images of arms and hands can be seen, which are parts of figures once representing praying Goths and Theodoric's court, deleted in Byzantine times. Renovations (and alterations) were done to the mosaics in the mid-19th century by Felice Kibel. The present apse is a reconstruction after being damaged during World War I.^[10]

Museum in Ravenna, Italy. The Archiepiscopal Museum is located in Ravenna, Italy, next to the Baptistry of Neon and behind the Duomo of Ravenna. In the museum relics of early Christian Ravenna are preserved, including fragments of mosaic from the first cathedral church, and the chapel of Sant'Andrea, dating from the Gothic kingdom.

The main room, on entering, contains lapidary inscriptions as HIC REQUIESCIT IN PACE VIR SBL SEDA IGNUCUS ('Here lies in peace that eminent man Seda the Eunuch'), CUBICULARIUS or 'Bedchamberlain' to Theodoric the Great, buried 541 AD. Beneath this, by the window, a reliquary for the martyred saints Quiricus and Julietta, whose remains were carried from Tarsus, the birthplace of Saint Paul, to Auxerre and from thence to Ravenna. The depictions on its four facings are in keeping with the theme of donation: Galla Placidia placed it in the church of San Giovanni Battista (not to be confused with the church of the 'Evangelista'). They are:

• Christ giving the Tables of the Law to St. Peter, with Paul standing by him;
• Daniel in the lions' den, with the prophet Habakkuk offering him a loaf and fishes;
• The Three Wise Kings bringing their gifts to the infant Christ;
• The women sitting below at His empty tomb.

The marble rosette on the facing wall is a Paschal calendar of the 6th century. Its purpose was to fix the movable feast of Easter in such a way that it might be celebrated everywhere in Christendom on the same day - no easy matter when East and West were using different calendars: the Eastern Church used the Hebrew lunar calendar, while the Western church followed the sun's cycle. Despite the decrees of the Council of Nicea in 325 AD and the tables of Theophilus, in this, as in all matters of faith, people followed their own loyalties. This calendar follows the eastern lunar cycle: LV on the outer rim, followed by AN indicates the phase of its 19-year cycle; the date then for Easter is written in each recurring phase from 532 AD to 626 AD.

The mosaics are the few fragments left of what covered the apse of the first church: they are not Roman originals but of the early 12th century. The most beautiful and intact is that of the Madonna, praying in the eastern manner; other fragments give some idea of its composition - the life of Sant'Apollinare, the patron saint and evangeliser of Ravenna; scenes of the Resurrection; Saints Peter and Paul. On entering the room to the right, there is a little stele depicting Christ the Good Shepherd by a tree: it is the tombstone of Antiphon, who died aged 17 years, 5 months and 12 days, sometime at the end of the 2nd/beginning of the 3rd century, long before the Edict of Tolerance, and is thus the earliest Christian record in Ravenna. The red porphyrian man (drawing or sheathing his sword?), headless, handless, footless, may be the Emperor Theodosius. It recalls the statue of the Tetrarchs outside the Doge's Palace in Venice, gripping onto power.

The jewel of the collection is the Ivory Cathedra, the bishop's seat of the Byzantine era (6th century), considered among the finest pieces of ivory carving in Western art. It is placed in what was the tower of Porta Salustra, the Roman gateway which commanded the southern entrance along the Cardis. It is the work of different hands and, even allowing for the missing panels, it still remains a visible masterpiece: the front bench, with the figures of Saint John the Baptist flanked by the Evangelists and a frieze work of peacocks, lions, goats and deer among vines, is especially fascinating; the backrest represents scenes from the birth of Christ, including Mary proving her virginity by immersion; on the other side, the miracles of Christ, his baptism and entry into Jerusalem; the armrests depict the Old Testament life of Joseph, reading from left to right (for the sitter).^[11]

Opera house in Ravenna, Italy. The Teatro Comunale Alighieri is an opera house located at 2 Via Mariani in Ravenna, Italy and designed by the Venetian architects, Tommaso Meduna and his brother, Giambattista who had designed the second La Fenice theatre after the fire of 1836. The new Teatro Comunale Alighieri was inaugurated on 15 May 1852 with a production of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable, followed by Giovanni Pacini's Medea.

It presently offers a program of up to six operas during the season which runs from November to April.

For about 125 years following 1723, Ravenna had one main theatre for the presentation of opera, the Teatro Comunitativo located outside the centre of the city. It featured a lavishly decorated, U-shaped baroque auditorium with 97 boxes on four tiers. In the 50 years following 1802, it presented 170 operatic productions, 24 of which were by Rossini, 22 by Donizetti, and 10 by Verdi. However, the 1830s and 1840s revealed its inadequacy, and plans were made to build a new theatre in the heart of the city; the cornerstone of the replacement theatre was laid in 1840.

With construction continuing until 1852, the new Teatro Comunale was named for the famous poet, Dante Aligheri, who had been exiled from Florence and then spent the last four years of his life in Ravenna. Reflecting the style of the Venetian brothers, the exterior of the Alighieri is neo-classical with a four ionic columns and a portico with statues of four Muses. With 118 boxes in four tiers plus a gallery, the auditorium was constructed in the traditional horseshoe shape with 830 seats.

As befitting his position as the major operatic composer of the day, Giuseppe Verdi's operas were dominant at the new theatre during its first fifty years; of other composers' works, Donizetti's operas were the only ones which appeared regularly until 1870 and those of Bellini vanished after 1866. However, French grand opera survived until the 20th century.

Since its foundation in 1990, the annual June/July Ravenna Festival has presented a very diverse range of operas at the Alighieri. These have included rare works by Salieri, Auber, and Cherubini as well as less performed operas by many of the standard 19th-century composers plus more popular works.^[13]

Basilica in Ravenna, Italy. The Basilica of San Francesco is a major church in Ravenna. It was first built in 450 by Neo, bishop of Ravenna, and dedicated to saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was later also known as the Church of the Apostles. In the second half of the 9th century and over the course of the 10th century, the earlier church was demolished to build a larger one and a tall bell tower, both of which survive. This new church was dedicated to Saint Peter and named San Pietro Maggiore. It was handed over to the Franciscans in 1261 and rededicated to Francis of Assisi.

Dante Alighieri's funeral was held in the church in 1321 and his remains still rest next to the church in the Tomb of Dante. Between 1500 and 1700 the church was restored again and again and Baroque altars and decorations were added. The most important restoration was that under Pietro Zumaglini in 1793. Ravenna was occupied by the French soon afterwards and in 1810 the monastery was suppressed, with its buildings confiscated by the authorities but the church kept open as a parish church, which it still is. Between 1918 and 1921, in preparation for the 600th anniversary of Dante's death, the church was radically restored, removing all the Baroque additions and returning it to something like its original style. A competition was held during the anniversary for a new scheme inside the church based on Dante's best known work, the Divine Comedy. Adolfo De Carolis won the competition but his sudden death prevented his scheme from being realised. The crypt was restored between 1926 and 1970 and in 1949 the Franciscans took on the church once again. Instead of the old monastery buildings, they moved into a building opposite the church and continued to run it as a parish church.^[17]

Catholic church in Ravenna, Italy. San Giovanni Evangelista is a church in Ravenna, Italy.

It was built in the fifth century AD by the Roman imperial princess Galla Placidia.

In the Middle Ages the Benedictines annexed to it an important monastery. In the 14th century both the church and the monastery were renovated in the Gothic style: of that intervention the portal is visible today. In 1747 the church was almost entirely stripped of its mosaics; the only remaining are two fragments of the original 5th-century floor, with the first recorded Christian use of hooked crosses. Other mosaic fragments found under the bombs belong to 13th-century floor and depict the Fourth Crusade. Two of the four bells dates 1208.

Heavily bombed during World War II, the building was later restored.^[18]