Daily Updates
Week Eight: Nov. 10
10 November. Maya reporting: Our first full day in Ravenna was a cold one, most of us were wearing all the clothes we brought with us on the road trip and the clever elite among us (a group which I am not a part of) had the foresight to buy scarves and hats in Assisi (the spirit of St. Francis I suppose). A number of religious buildings were constructed in Ravenna in the 5th and 6th centuries, after the Western capital of the empire had moved from Milan, appropriate seeing as how we’re currently studying early Christian iconography and architecture. We began the morning at the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, navigating our way through Dutch and Canadian tour groups, cursing the power-tripping ticket takers, and wondering silently (or in my case aloud) if Galla Placidia was named after a daytime soap opera star from the 5th Century. Thankfully, the religious few among us were able to decipher the mosaics on the walls and ceilings of the baptistries and churches (despite four years of Religion at Santa Margarita, I was negative help, loudly confusing transfiguration and transubstantiation on more than one occassion). Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo had amazing murals in the upper clerestory walls that depicted scenes from the New Testament. The best was the mosaic depiciting the story where Peter denies Christ, Peter looks like a teenager whose parents just caught him with a package of cigarettes, standing there holding his palms up like, “hey, ah…those aren’t mine . . .”. Talk about relating to the subject. The study of the early Christian buildings is such a fantastic way to end the program because so many architectural elements seen in Roman architecture that we have studied this term are employed again in these spaces—and thinking of all the political propaganda behind the mosaics as the last emperors of Rome, the Barbarians, and the Byzantian rulers (it was a busy couple centuries) all tried to establish connections with Christ through religious iconography, truly fascinating—someone get me a towel because all that nerdy Classics stuff makes me salivate. It’s going to be a rude awakening when we go back to Dartmouth talking passionately about cross vaults, arches, and spatial relationships with such fiery passion that our friends disown us. Altogether I found today extremely delightful, Professor Ulrich even permitted a Haribo stop at a delicious “dolce cart,” where we baptized ourselves in gummy sharks, alligators, and honey peanuts--and in my case a candied mistake, chewy coughdrops, that will probably sit in my bag untouched until I get back to California. Ravenna is famous for its flat terrain and a couple students rented bikes later in the afternoon, some of the more fashionably conscience or more likely cold students went shopping. Matt bought a Ravenna Mosaic muscle shirt from the Church giftshop (he would ironically rip a porcelain sink out of the wall later that afternoon: apparently the cotton is laced with superpowers) and I bought the sheep from the plastic nativity scene. Brian discovered the hotel has only three telephone lines (ah! glorious European hotels) which are almost always kept busy, and every student learned what it’s like to sleep with a spring lodged between their shoulderblades from what have been deemed the “worst beds ever.”
10 November. The morning lecture at the Basilica of San Vitale
10 November. San Vitale
10 November. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
10 November. Detail from the doorway of the mausoleum
10 November. Mosaics in the mausoleum
10 November. Mosaics in the mausoleum
10 November. Mosaics in the mausoleum
10 November. The central dome of the mausoleum
10 November. Mosaics in the mausoleum
10 November. Mosaics in the mausoleum
10 November. An alabaster window from the mausoleum
10 November. Mosaics in the mausoleum
10 November. Taking notes
10 November. Taking notes
10 November. Interior of San Vitale
10 November. Dome of San Vitale
10 November. Opus sectile floor of San Vitale
10 November. Apse of San Vitale
10 November. Mosaic depicting Justinean as Christ
10 November. Opus sectile from the apse
10 November. Opus sectile from the apse
10 November. Dome over the apse with a seated Christ
10 November. The cross vault over the altar
10 November. Left wall
10 November. Detail of arch
10 November. Mosaic floor
10 November. San Vitale
10 November. Seated Christ
10 November. The apse windows
10 November. Justinean's wife Theodora as Virgin Mary
10 November. The cross vault over the altar
10 November. Right wall
10 November. Dome from the Arian baptistry
10 November. The River Jordan personified and Christ
10 November. Christ being baptized by John the Baptist
10 November. The church of San Apollinare Nuovo
10 November. Depiction of Theodric's palace in Ravenna, the Palatium
10 November. A procession of male saints decorates the right side of the nave
10 November. A procession of female saints decorates the left side of the nave
10 November. Note the arms and hands of figures who were covered up when the church was "cleansed" of barbarian influence
10 November. The three wise men
10 November. Christ enthroned
10 November. The clerestory lighting
10 November. Grapes from the cloister
10 November. The Orthodox baptistry
10 November. A cross from the Orthodox baptistry
10 November. The central dome of the baptistry with Christ's baptism
10 November. A glittering mosaic of a saint