Ravenna: San Vitale

The next church I visited in Ravenna was San Vitale, more in the center of town.

Exterior view.

The church is circular in shape, and therefore an ambulatory encircles the center of the building.

Much of the decoration of the ambulatory and the center of the church was redone during the Baroque period, and it appears a bit anachronistic when viewed with the decoration of the high altar, which is the highlight of the church.

View of the high altar, which is completely covered in brilliant mosaic.

Looking straight up at the archway that separates the altar (on bottom of the picture) from the center of the church (top of the picture).  See what I mean about the Baroque painting in the central dome and how that contrasts to the colorful mosaics?

Detail of the right side of the altar with various scenes from the Old Testament.

Closer up of the detail.

The left side.

Ceiling with 4 angels and the Agnus Dei in the center.

On the right side of the altar itself is a panel showing Empress Theodora, wife of Emperor Justinian.  They ruled from Constantinople, but influenced much of the building and decoration in Medieval Ravenna.

Across from her is a similar panel with Emperor Justinian.

Column details, incredibly similar in style to that of the East, and what we saw in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

HUGE buttress on the exterior of the church.

A different view of the same buttress.  I don't think the Italians quite understood exactly what a flying buttress was meant to look like, or what its purpose was. 

Here are some true flying buttresses, from Notre Dame in Paris.  As my friend Dave has said, "I get the feeling that the Italians weren't quite up to speed on the purpose of flying buttresses, and they just ended up copying other countries' examples without actually making them useful. Much like they did with their public transit system." :)

Ravenna: Sant'Apollinare in Classe

After Bologna I made a day-trip to the town of Ravenna, which is famous for its medieval mosaics.  I've taught many of these mosaics before in class, but I have never seen them myself, and have heard they are quite spectacular in person, so I was very excited to finally have the chance to view them.  Ravenna has been on my list of places to go for quite a long time!

A cute town, but not as lovely as Bologna.

The first church I went to was Sant'Apollinare in Classe, which is just outside the city of Ravenna itself, but easily accessible by bus.  Given its location though, it is not visited by as many people, and I was lucky to have the grounds and inside almost to myself.

The rear of the church and bell tower on the right.

Inside.  Typical of Italian medieval churches, the nave is quite wide and has a single aisle on either side with little decoration.  The highlight of the church are the mosaics above the high altar.

Close up of the mosaics.  The scene is of the Transfiguration, when Christ climbs Mt Tabor with three of his apostles (Peter, James, and John), and while there is miraculously transfigured or transformed into a heavenly vision of light.  At this time two Old Testament figures, Moses and Elijah, appear, and the voice of God calls Jesus his son.  Though this is a rather common scene in art of the time, this is a pretty spectacular representation of the story given its abstract nature.  Rather than showing Jesus in human form, the artist has represented him as the cross surrounded by a halo of blue and red in the center of the scene.  Moses and Elijah float near the cross on either side, and the three sheep in the middle of the scene represent the three apostles present.  On the lower section of the scene are twelve more sheep representing all of the apostles, and in the center is Saint Apollonius in a prayer pose.  Although Apollonius was not present at the Transfiguration, it was common in art of the time to show the dedicatory saint of the church.

I love the details of this mosaic.  The sheep are sooooooo cute and sweet.  And this detail is also great because it shows just how schematic Medieval art often was.  Obviously you can tell that this event is happening outdoors in a field of some kind, but rather than create a landscape that is detailed and naturalistic, artists of the Middle Ages made things more simplified and symbolic as this made imagery easier to "read" for the viewer.

Detail of the lower imagery surrounding the windows.  The entire surface of the high altar is covered in mosaic, but if you think this is spectacular, just wait until my next post!

Bologna

I traveled up to Bologna a few weekends ago to meet with a two professors about my work.  I have never been to Bologna before and wasn't expecting a lot, but I immediately fell in love with the city.  Rome is definitely the love of my life, but I may have to cheat on her from time to time and have a passionate and heated affair with Bologna.  It's a much smaller city, but still feels like a real and authentic Italian city, as compared to, for example, Florence, which feels a lot like Disneyland with all the tourists and shops catering to them.  It is also a wonderful mix of Medieval and modern architecture, and somehow the two blend seamlessly together.

One of the unique architectural aspects about Bologna is its portico-lined streets.  The majority of the sidewalks in the major parts of town are covered, and have been since the Renaissance. 

I was fortunate to have beautiful weather while there, but I can only imagine how wonderful the porticoes are when it rains or snows.  Since Bologna is much further north than Rome, the temperatures are quite cooler.

Inside the Duomo of Bologna, which isn't particularly famous since neither its architecture nor its altarpieces are by anyone especially famous.  When I was inside, however, I finally realized why quadratura, or the painted imitation of 3d architecture, is a Bolognese specialty.  The "architecture" that you see here around the altarpiece is completely flat.

See?  Although painting trompe l'oeil (literally, to trick the eye) was a fun display of skill practiced by many painters, it wasn't until the late 16th century in Bologna when a school of painters really perfected the depiction of fictive architecture.  This style of painting became immensely popular and spread throughout the peninsula, especially to Rome under the pontificate of Gregory XIII (my pope!).

View of the Palazzo Comunale and the Piazza Maggiore.

Giambologna's fountain of Neptune.  Giambologna is one of my favorite sculptors-- you may remember in my Vienna post how excited I was to see a tiny bronze statuette of Astronomia while in the Kunsthistorisches museum there.

Like many Mannerist artists, Giambologna inserted a bit of humor into this work.  If viewed from a specific angle Neptune's arm looks rather like a different appendage...

But he's got nothing on the mermaids that make up the base of the fountain!

Above the door on the Palazzo Comunale is a bronze statue of Gregory XIII.  He is Bolognese by birth and attended the University of Bologna, and so his native city figures prominently in many of his commissions.  For example, on the walls of the Sala Bologna (the room of my dissertation) are painted maps of his hometown (therefore giving the room its name).

Another view of Piazza Maggiore.

Like all Medieval towns, Bologna was once home to numerous towers, in this case over 200, of which about 20 survive.  These two are the most famous, with the tower on the left, the Tower of Garisenda, leaning so precariously that it makes the Leaning Tower of Pisa look quite stable by comparison.

Better view of the two towers.  The Tower of Asinelli (on the right) is open inside and you can walk up it, but it was too late in the day for me to do so.

See what I mean?  Quite tilted...

Street of markets open in the evening.

I've heard that Bologna is famous for its food, but how good could it be I thought.  After all, it's not like we're lacking good food in Rome.  With that said, I have never seen food more beautiful in my life!  The vegetables were the brightest and most colorful I've ever seen; the cheese and meat was stacked in windows begging to be purchased and eaten immediately.  I don't consider myself a foodie by ANY means, but after seeing some of these window displays I began to understand why some people are.

Given its proximity to Parma there are wheels and wheels of beautiful Parmesan cheese everywhere.

Pecorino is a cheese very common and popular in Rome (and one of my favorites), and here there are stacks and stacks of mouth-watering wheels.  I almost peed my pants and fell over.  How I adore cheese!