The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna발음듣기
The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna
You don't think about Ravenna, but Ravenna played a key role at the end of the Roman Empire.발음듣기
The Roman Empire was in trouble in the Third and Fourth Centuries, that is, 300 years or so after Christ. It had been split.발음듣기
Ultimately, Constantine moved the capital of the Empire from Rome to a strategic location in the East, what is now called Istanbul but which was renamed Constantinople.발음듣기
Before it was Constantinople, it was the Greek town of Byzantium, and that's why we call the culture from the eastern part of the Empire, Byzantine.발음듣기
The Roman Expire was basically split at this time between traditions that began to develop independently in the East and traditions that began to develop independently in the West.발음듣기
So, here we are in the early Fifth Century, and Galla Placidia was the daughter of the Emperor Theodosius.발음듣기
And Galla Placidia's brother moved the capital of the western part of the Roman Empire here to Ravenna.발음듣기
Now, Ravenna had been an important port in ancient Rome. Augustus had half his navy situated here because the city was basically surrounded by marsh on one side and the Adriatic Sea on the other.발음듣기
She's the daughter of the Emperor who ruled from Constantinople, and she's the sister of the man who would rule the western capital.발음듣기
Ultimately, she would remarry, and her son would become emperor, but he was too young to rule.발음듣기
She ruled the western Roman Empire in place of her son until her son was old enough to take over.발음듣기
So, she was a very powerful woman and was responsible for building many buildings here in Ravenna including this mausoleum which was originally attached to a church that she built.발음듣기
Now, we call this the "so-called" mausoleum because art historians used to think that she was buried here.발음듣기
Remember, this had been an important Roman city for the navy, and so the people in the Fifth Century dismantled those older buildings and reused those materials, and that's what we have here.발음듣기
But, what everyone comes to see is the interior decorations because outside it really doesn't look like much, but inside it's fabulous.발음듣기
The walls are covered up to about, oh, seven or eight feet with marble, and then above that, amazing mosaics.발음듣기
Now, the building itself is the shape of a cross, and on each of the four transepts there are barrel vaults.발음듣기
So, in this case, gold was sandwiched between pieces of glass, and these pieces, or tesseraei, are set a little bit on edge.발음듣기
In other words, they're not smooth and flat against the wall, and so they catch the light and glimmer.발음듣기
And that would have been especially true when this room was illuminated not by an electric light with its steady illumination, but instead by the flickering light of lanterns.발음듣기
For example, we see acanthus leaves and vines although the vines here are very specifically grape vines, and that refers to the Sacrament of the Eucharist, of taking the bread and wine of the body and blood of Christ.발음듣기
When we first walk into the mausoleum, the first mosaic that we see is one that we don't entirely understand.발음듣기
We often assume that that's Saint Lawrence because Saint Lawrence was martyred by being burned to death.발음듣기
And he's the saint we most often see in western iconography, but because, on the other side, we see very prominently an opened cabinet revealing four books, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four Gospels.발음듣기
And, because the Saint holds the book, one scholar has suggested that this might be Saint Vincent of Saragossa whose legend does involve books, unlike Saint Lawrence.발음듣기
Saint Vincent, or Saint Lawrence, or whoever that is, is also dressed, as are all the figures in this building, looking very much as if you were an ancient Roman.발음듣기
There's this wonderful kind of animation to his figure; the drape flows out in back of him as if he's speeding forward.발음듣기
And the kind of energy that's expressed in that cloth is echoed in the liveliness of the flames themselves.발음듣기
We can see the flames underneath the grill, but we also see their shadow on the wall behind, or what must be the wall behind.발음듣기
It's very difficult to talk about it as a space that makes sense because it's so obviously not very naturalistic. That cabinet doesn't make sense.발음듣기
We have a kind of flat background, and, yet, there are still some naturalistic aspects to it, like the drapery that the saint wears which does have some sense of modeling and three-dimensionality to it. There's also a real specificity.발음듣기
There are these decisions to place very specific elements here even if we don't entirely understand them.발음듣기
Now, opposite this mosaic, this lunette, is another, right over the door, and we don't see it until we turn to leave.발음듣기
It is so classical, and it's such a careful observation of the way that the human body moves.발음듣기
And, yet, at the same time, it has the kind of simplification of the body's forms that clearly locate this in the early Medieval period.발음듣기
And it's also a very symmetrical image with the figure in the center and three sheep on either side.발음듣기
Now, the iconography, or the symbolism, of Christ being shown as a shepherd comes directly out of the Gospel of John.발음듣기
It's the idea that Christ is leading his flock, leading the faithful, taking care of them. Christ looks unusually more young.발음듣기
There are fronds of a palm that rise up in back of the rocks at the horizon line, and they're flecked with gold.발음듣기
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