Basilica di San Vitale

Bishop Ecclesius began it around 526, funded by the banker Julianus Argentarius, and Archbishop Maximian consecrated it in 547. In those years Ravenna had just returned to Byzantine hands, and the basilica became its manifesto: octagonal plan, high dome, spaces revolving around the centre as in the churches of Constantinople.

The presbytery is an explosion of gold and green. On the side walls are scenes from the Old Testament: Abraham welcoming the three angels, the sacrifice of Isaac, Moses on Sinai. In the apse basin, the youthful Christ sits on the globe between angels, Saint Vitalis and Bishop Ecclesius, who offers him the model of the church.

On either side are the two most famous panels in Byzantine art: Emperor Justinian with his court, soldiers and Archbishop Maximian, and opposite him Empress Theodora with her ladies, covered in pearls. Neither ever came to Ravenna, but here they are portrayed as if present at Mass.

San Vitale is one of the eight monuments of Ravenna inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996. You visit it with the combined ticket for the monuments of the Curia, together with the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia in the same garden.