Ravenna

Ravenna is a city in northern Italy that served as the Western Roman imperial capital from 402. Its late antique churches preserve a remarkable concentration of Byzantine mosaics.

Mausoleum of Galla Placidia: A fifth-century building in Ravenna, famous for its starry ceiling mosaics and cross-shaped plan. Its compact interior displays the city’s early Christian mosaic art.
Western Roman Empire: The western division of the Roman Empire, governed separately from the eastern empire after the late fourth century. Ravenna became its capital in 402.
Classis: The ancient port of Ravenna, developed as a major naval base under the Roman Empire. Its harbor connected the inland capital to imperial sea routes.
Early Christian art: Art produced by Christian communities in the Roman Empire and its successor states, especially from the second to sixth centuries. Ravenna’s churches preserve some of its most celebrated surviving examples.
Basilica of San Vitale: A sixth-century church in Ravenna with a central octagonal plan and extensive Byzantine mosaics. Its imperial portraits and shimmering apse mosaics mark Ravenna’s Byzantine period.
Honorius: Roman emperor from 393 to 423, ruling the western empire after its division from the east. He moved the western imperial court from Milan to Ravenna in 402.
Ravenna's harbor: The network of Roman-era port facilities that connected Ravenna to the Adriatic Sea. The harbor supported the movement of troops and supplies to the capital.
Byzantine art: The artistic tradition of the Byzantine Empire, known for religious imagery, mosaics, and icons. Ravenna’s sixth-century monuments show Byzantine artistic influence in Italy.
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo: A sixth-century basilica in Ravenna, known for long mosaic processions along its nave walls. Its mosaics preserve imagery from both Ostrogothic and Byzantine rule.
Odoacer: A Germanic military leader who deposed the last western Roman emperor in 476 and ruled Italy until 493. His capture of Ravenna ended western imperial rule there.

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