Summary
Highlights
The Church of San Vitale in Ravenna is a significant 6th-century centrally planned church, distinct from the traditional cross-shaped churches. It features an octagonal design with a smaller, taller inner octagon, surrounded by an ambulatory. Numerous windows illuminate its interior, which is renowned for its early medieval mosaics.
The church's eastern end is densely covered with glittering gold tesserae mosaics, which depict a unifying theme of offering and sacrifice. Scenes include Abel and Melchizedek making offerings to God, and Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac. These narratives relate to the Eucharist and the concept of God's sacrifice for mankind's redemption and eternal life in heaven. The mosaics are crafted with varying materials like colored glass, gold, silver, mother of pearl, and stone to create dynamic visual effects.
The mosaics demonstrate remarkable artistry, with tesserae arranged to create detailed images that resolve at a distance. They depict a vibrant paradise with various birds, flowers, animals, vines, and fruits, symbolizing abundance and the afterlife. Dolphins and shells allude to Christ and the apostles. Grapevines in particular reference the wine of the Eucharist, symbolizing Christ's blood.
Above the three large windows, a grand apse mosaic features Christ, royally dressed in purple and seated on the orb of the Earth, flanked by angels. He holds the book of the apocalypse and bestows a crown upon Saint Vitalis, the city's primary martyr. Ecclesius, the church's founder, is also depicted offering the church to an angel. Above the altar, the Lamb of God within a wreath of victory, held by four angels, symbolizes Christ's sacrifice and the triumph of Christianity.
The triumphal arch showcases a bearded Christ within a mandorla, flanked by 14 figures including apostles. The columns throughout the church, made of high-quality imported marble, represent an early Christian departure from classical orders, inventing a new iconography. Impost blocks seamlessly transition to the arches.
Flanking the apse are two of the most significant mosaics, featuring Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora, who never visited Ravenna. Their inclusion reasserts their control over the city after it was reconquered from Arian Goths. Justinian, wearing royal purple and a halo, holds a paten for the Eucharist, surrounded by his court, religious figures, and soldiers, symbolizing the three centers of power. Theodora, depicted in elaborate attire and a halo, holds a chalice for the Eucharist, surrounded by her attendants, reflecting her co-equal status and participation in the ceremony.
Both Justinian and Theodora are depicted frontally, in an abstracted, schematic medieval style, departing from classical naturalism. Proportions are non-realistic, and figures appear to float, emphasizing an eternal, rather than earthly, space. The church also features elaborate stone revetment panels, a tradition rooted in Imperial Rome and Hellenistic Greece, showcasing dynamic patterns. Even some of the natural imagery, like the 'abundance of life' in the waters, draws from pagan traditions such as images of the Nile River. Mosaic crafting itself originated as a Roman art form primarily used for floors.
The church's design integrates mosaics, carved marble columns with vines and tendrils symbolizing growth, and impost blocks depicting the Lamb of God, reinforcing themes of sacrifice and redemption. The entire space, with its curling vines, moving animals, and dynamic architectural patterns, is vibrant and lush. This magnificent structure in Ravenna, though distant from Constantinople, powerfully conveys the importance and spiritual significance of the empire.