Basilica of San Vitale

Walk in from the bright courtyard, and your eyes need a moment. The air is cool and still. The light is low, falling from high windows onto pale marble and old brick. Then, as your eyes adjust, the far end of the church begins to glow. Green, gold, deep blue... thousands of tiny pieces of glass and stone catch the light. You are standing inside one of the oldest surviving churches of its kind in Europe, and it was built almost fifteen hundred years ago.

This is the Basilica of San Vitale, in Ravenna. The church is dedicated to Saint Vitalis, an early Christian martyr linked to the city by local tradition. Construction began in the 520s, under a bishop named Ecclesius. It was consecrated around the 540s by Archbishop Maximian. Between those two moments, the world around this building changed completely. The church was begun under one ruler and finished under another.

To understand why, picture Ravenna in the early sixth century. Around 400, the Western Roman emperors had moved their court here. Marshes and the sea made the city easy to defend. Later, the Ostrogoths, a Germanic people, ruled Italy from Ravenna. Then, in 540, the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire, which we now call the Byzantine Empire, took the city. San Vitale was started under Gothic rule and completed as a Byzantine showpiece.

The money came from a private citizen. His name was Julianus, and he is often called Julianus Argentarius, which means Julian the banker or silversmith. Very little is known about him as a person. But his fortune paid for marble, mosaics, and skilled workers on a large scale. It is a surprising thought. One of the great religious buildings of late antiquity was funded largely by a wealthy businessman.

Now look at the shape of the space around you. San Vitale is not a long hall like most churches. It is an octagon, eight-sided, with a central space under a dome. Around it runs a lower walkway, and above that, an upper gallery. Between the central piers, curved arcades open outward, like half-circles pressed into the walls. The effect is a space that seems to breathe in and out as you turn around.

Here is a detail most visitors walk straight past. The entrance porch, called the narthex, is set at an odd angle to the rest of the building. It does not line up with the main axis of the church. Historians still discuss the exact reason. Whatever the cause, it means the church is entered from one direction, while its altar points in another. You may feel a slight turn in your body as you move inside.

Another secret lies above your head. To keep the dome light, the builders used hollow clay tubes, fitted into one another, instead of heavy solid stone. Lighter material put less weight on the walls below. You cannot see these tubes from the floor. The painted decoration you see up in the dome today is much later, from the Baroque period. It was added long after the original mosaics in that part of the church were lost.

Now walk toward the light, into the chancel and apse at the eastern end. This is where the original mosaics survive in full. In the curved apse, a young, beardless Christ sits on a blue globe. Angels stand on either side. At one edge, Saint Vitalis receives a crown. At the other, Bishop Ecclesius holds a small model of this very church, offering it up. Look closely at that model. It shows the building you are standing in.

Below, on the left wall, is the most famous image in Ravenna. The Emperor Justinian stands in purple, holding a golden bowl for the bread of the Eucharist, the Christian communion rite. Around him are churchmen, officials, and soldiers. One figure is labelled with his name, Maximianus. That is Archbishop Maximian, the man who consecrated this church. It is a rare thing... a sixth-century portrait with a name written above it.

Across from him, on the right wall, stands the Empress Theodora. She wears a crown of pearls and jewels, and she carries a golden chalice. Her ladies-in-waiting follow her, in patterned silk. Look down at the hem of her robe. Embroidered there are the three Magi, the wise men who brought gifts to the infant Christ. They are bringing gifts, just as she is. Neither ruler is thought to have ever visited Ravenna. These portraits made them present anyway.

The side walls of the chancel tell older stories, from the Hebrew Bible. Look for Abraham welcoming three visitors at a table. Nearby, he raises a knife over his son Isaac, while a hand appears from the sky to stop him. You will also find Moses, and the offerings of Abel and Melchizedek. Above, in the centre of the vault, the Lamb of God sits in a wreath. Four angels hold it up, each standing on a blue sphere.

Before you leave, give your attention to the stone. The column capitals are carved so deeply that they look like lace or woven baskets. Many columns are made of veined marble from the eastern Mediterranean. Outside, the walls are plain brick, made of long, thin Roman-style bricks. This contrast was normal for the time. A modest exterior protected an inner world of colour. In 1996, San Vitale joined Ravenna's other early Christian monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

When you step back into the courtyard, look for a small brick building nearby. That is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, older than this church, with its own famous starry ceiling. But for now, pause here a little longer. Look up once more at the emperor and empress. They have watched this room through invasions, earthquakes, and centuries of prayer. The same light that falls on them now fell on them in the sixth century. Take that with you as you go.