San Vitale Research Paper
San Vitale
Ravenna, Italy
The Church of San Vitale remains one of the earliest and most prized structures of Byzantine Art. Built in the Etruscan and later Roman city of Ravenna, Italy, San Vitale stands to be one of the city’s most celebrated possessions. Two-hundred years after Constantine, the creator of Byzantium, Ostrogoth ruler Theodoric the Great made Ravenna the capital of his kingdom. Theodoric was of Arian faith where Christ was seen as a creation of God the Father and was subordinate in the hierarchy of the Holy Trinity. Theodoric the Great died in 526 CE and in 539 CE, Orthodox Christian Justinian from Constantinople sent his own general Belisarius to reconquer Ravenna from the Ostrogoths and reinstate Orthodox Christianity. Ravenna then became somewhat of an extension of the great city of Constantinople and the art clearly indicates a time of transition from the Early Christian to Byzantine era. (“Building the Dream”)
Shortly after Theodoric’s death, Bishop Ecclesius, along with a hefty contribution by a banker named Julianus Argentarius, began construction of a church to commemorate Ravenna’s celebrated martyr San Vitalis. At that time, the cross-shaped basilica plan was popular. Instead of a wide central nave flanked by two aisles, a transverse aisle, and an apse at the end, San Vitale was designed around a central nave with two concentric octagonal walls. The central nave is surrounded by two superposed ambulatories while the triforium, the smaller of the octagonal shapes, is supported by eight curved and marble-columned exedrae. San Vitale features traditional Roman architectural techniques such as groin vaults, arched doorways, and a dome-covered clerestory. The lower ambulatory is interrupted by a triumphal arch that precedes a chancel and a cross-vaulted apse. On the opposite side of the apse lays an off-axis narthex. To the left of the apse sits a prothesis where bread and wine are prepared for the Eucharist. To the right, a
Ravenna, Italy
The Church of San Vitale remains one of the earliest and most prized structures of Byzantine Art. Built in the Etruscan and later Roman city of Ravenna, Italy, San Vitale stands to be one of the city’s most celebrated possessions. Two-hundred years after Constantine, the creator of Byzantium, Ostrogoth ruler Theodoric the Great made Ravenna the capital of his kingdom. Theodoric was of Arian faith where Christ was seen as a creation of God the Father and was subordinate in the hierarchy of the Holy Trinity. Theodoric the Great died in 526 CE and in 539 CE, Orthodox Christian Justinian from Constantinople sent his own general Belisarius to reconquer Ravenna from the Ostrogoths and reinstate Orthodox Christianity. Ravenna then became somewhat of an extension of the great city of Constantinople and the art clearly indicates a time of transition from the Early Christian to Byzantine era. (“Building the Dream”)
Shortly after Theodoric’s death, Bishop Ecclesius, along with a hefty contribution by a banker named Julianus Argentarius, began construction of a church to commemorate Ravenna’s celebrated martyr San Vitalis. At that time, the cross-shaped basilica plan was popular. Instead of a wide central nave flanked by two aisles, a transverse aisle, and an apse at the end, San Vitale was designed around a central nave with two concentric octagonal walls. The central nave is surrounded by two superposed ambulatories while the triforium, the smaller of the octagonal shapes, is supported by eight curved and marble-columned exedrae. San Vitale features traditional Roman architectural techniques such as groin vaults, arched doorways, and a dome-covered clerestory. The lower ambulatory is interrupted by a triumphal arch that precedes a chancel and a cross-vaulted apse. On the opposite side of the apse lays an off-axis narthex. To the left of the apse sits a prothesis where bread and wine are prepared for the Eucharist. To the right, a
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