Oh, Ravenna! — Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, Italy

I know this is supposed to be about mosaics, but by way of a little background, I will provide a brief biography of Galla Placidia, the woman whose name is attached to this particular UNESCO World Heritage monument. I’d never heard of her until I visited Ravenna, but frankly, her tumultuous life story seems worthy of a Hollywood movie, or at least a historical novel or two. Here goes: Galla Placidia was the half-sister of the emperor Honorius. As a girl, she was brought up by guardians and betrothed to their son, but said guardians were both accused of treachery and executed. Placidia was in Rome when it was sacked by Alaric the Goth and became a hostage of the Goths in 409 AD. In 414 AD, she was married to Alaric’s successor, Athaulf, with whom she had a son. Unfortunately, within a year, her son and husband were both dead (the latter murdered), and in either late 415 AD or early 416 AD, Placidia was traded back to the Romans. She was then married off to a Roman general, Constantius, with whom she had a son and a daughter. Constantius died; then there was apparently some sort of scandal where Galla Placidia and her half-brother Honorius were observed to be a bit too close to one another, engaging in public caresses. Whether something incestuous was going on or not, or if Placidia was plotting against her half-brother (as some claim), something went wrong, as Placidia was banished from Ravenna by Honorius, and she was forced to flee to her nephew, Theodosius II, in Constantinople. Honorius died shortly afterwards, and since he was childless, Galla Placidia returned to Italy, where her son, Valentinian, was declared the new emperor in 425 AD. Galla Placidia acted as regent for him until 437 AD and continued to exercise political influence for the rest of her life. Interestingly, her daughter, Honoria, who had incurred the wrath of her brother after having an affair with her steward, at one point offered herself in marriage to Attila the Hun. The wedding never happened (probably lucky for Placidia’s daughter), and Honoria was married off to a Roman instead. Galla Placidia died and was buried in Rome in 450 AD.

The Mausoleum in Ravenna was probably never Galla Placidia’s resting place but was originally part of a larger basilica now destroyed. Built between 425 and 430 AD, this was the Church of the Holy Cross (quite possibly dedicated to St. Lawrence, given some of the mosaics found inside the remaining building), which was really not a mausoleum at all, but a chapel or oratory. Whilst Galla Placidia was probably the patron who commissioned the building of the church, it appears it was a later medieval misconception that she was actually buried there. Still, the name stuck. There are three sarcophagi in the building, but it is disputed as to whom they belong.

above: At each corner of the dome are the symbols of the Apostles, St. Matthew's Man, St. Mark's Lion, St. Luke's Ox, and St. John's Eagle.

The Mausoleum’s interior is breathtakingly beautiful and very blue. Golden stars shine in the ceilings and archways, and floral motifs are everywhere. In a barrel-shaped vault is a mosaic of Christ as the Good Shepherd. Another mosaic depicts St. Lawrence (probably, since he is accompanied by a burning grid) alongside a cupboard containing the four gospels. Water symbology, emphasising its salvational qualities, is prevalent too, as scenes show doves drinking from a basin and deer from a spring.

above: Christ as the Good Shepherd.

above and below: This is probably St. Lawrence (who was supposedly martyred on a gridiron). The closet containing the four gospels is on the left.

above: One of the mysterious sarcophagi.

These oldest of Ravenna’s surviving mosaics do give you a sense of entering heaven with their starry, starry skies and swirling vines and flowers. From a historical perspective, Judith Herrin contends that the mausoleum ‘is an architectural witness to [Galla Placidia’s] claim on imperial power, her grasp of the ‘imperial feminine’ and her belief in the utmost importance of the hereafter’. As a monument to her memory, it is certainly dazzlingly magnificent.

 

For a comprehensive history of Ravenna throughout late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, I can recommend Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe by Judith Herrin ISBN: 9780241954454