Basilica of San Vitale

The interior of the dome, with Baroque frescoes from the late 18th century.

The church was begun by Bishop Ecclesius in 526, when Ravenna was under the rule of the Ostrogoths and completed by the 27th Bishop of Ravenna, Maximian, in 547 preceding the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna.

The construction of the church was sponsored by Julius Argentarius, a banker and architect, of whom very little is known, except that he also sponsored the construction of the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe at around the same time.[2] (A donor portrait of Julius Argentarius may appear among the courtiers on the Justinian mosaic.) The final cost amounted to 26,000 solidi (gold pieces),[3] equal to 36.11 lbs of gold. It has been suggested that Julian originated in the eastern part of the Byzantine Empire, where there was a long-standing tradition of public benefactions.

The central vault used a western technique of hollow tubes inserted into each other, rather than bricks. This method was the first recorded structural use of terra-cotta forms, which later evolved into modern structural clay tile. The ambulatory and gallery were vaulted only later in the Middle Ages.[4]

The Baroque frescoes on the dome were made between 1778 and 1782 by S. Barozzi, U. Gandolfi and E. Guarana.[5]

Mosaics of Justinianus I and Theodora.

Triumphal arch mosaics of Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

Ceiling mosaic above the presbytery

The church has an octagonal plan. The building combines Roman elements: the dome, shape of doorways, and stepped towers; with Byzantine elements: polygonal apse, capitals, narrow bricks, and an early example of flying buttresses. The church is most famous for its wealth of Byzantine mosaics, the largest and best preserved outside of Constantinople. The church is of extreme importance in Byzantine art, as it is the only major church from the period of the Emperor Justinian I to survive virtually intact to the present day. Furthermore, it is thought to reflect the design of the Byzantine Imperial Palace Audience Chamber, of which nothing at all survives. The belltower has four bells, the tenor one dating from the 16th century. According to legends, the church was erected on the site of the martyrdom of Saint Vitalis.[6] However, there is some confusion as to whether this is the Saint Vitalis of Milan, or the Saint Vitale whose body was discovered together with that of Saint Agricola, by Saint Ambrose in Bologna in 393.

The central section is surrounded by two superposed ambulatories. The upper one, the matrimoneum, was possibly reserved for married women. A series of mosaics in the lunettes above the triforia depict sacrifices from the Old Testament:[7] the story of Abraham and Melchizedek, and the Sacrifice of Isaac; the story of Moses and the Burning Bush, Jeremiah and Isaiah, representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the story of Abel and Cain. A pair of angels, holding a medallion with a cross, crowns each lunette. On the side walls the corners, next to the mullioned windows, have mosaics of the Four Evangelists, under their symbols (angel, lion, ox and eagle), and dressed in white. Especially the portrayal of the lion is remarkable in its ferocity.

The cross-ribbed vault in the presbytery is richly ornamented with mosaic festoons of leaves, fruit and flowers, converging on a crown encircling the Lamb of God. The crown is supported by four angels, and every surface is covered with a profusion of flowers, stars, birds and animals, including many peacocks. Above the arch, on both sides, two angels hold a disc and beside them a representation of the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. They symbolize the human race (Jerusalem representing the Jews, and Bethlehem the Gentiles).

All these mosaics are executed in the Hellenistic-Roman tradition: lively and imaginative, with rich colors and a certain perspective, and with a vivid depiction of the landscape, plants and birds. They were finished when Ravenna was still under Gothic rule. The apse is flanked by two chapels, the prothesis and the diaconicon, typical for Byzantine architecture.

Inside, the intrados of the great triumphal arch is decorated with fifteen mosaic medallions, depicting Jesus Christ, the twelve Apostles and Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius, the sons of Saint Vitale. The theophany was begun in 525 under bishop Ecclesius. It has a great gold fascia with twining flowers, birds, and horns of plenty. Jesus Christ appears, seated on a blue globe in the summit of the vault, robed in purple, flanked by angels, offering with his right hand the martyr's crown to Saint Vitale, while on his left Bishop Ecclesius offers a model of the church.

External video
Byzantine Art: San Vitale, Ravenna, Smarthistory[9]

• A La Ronde, an 18th-century house in Devon, England, that is supposedly based on the Basilica.
• List of Roman domes
• History of Roman and Byzantine domes

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  Ground plan of the building
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  Apse mosaic
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  Emperor Justinian and his retinue
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  Empress Theodora and attendants
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  The mosaic Sacrifice of Isaac
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  The interior of San Vitale
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  The presbytery

• Alberti, Livia; Muscolino, Cetty (2005). "The conservation of the mosaics of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, 1989-1999: Construction technique and treatment methodology". In Bakirtzis, C. (ed.). Proceedings of VIIIth Conference of the International Committee for the Conservation of Mosaics (ICCM). Wall and Floor Mosaics: Conservation, Maintenance, Presentation, Thessaloniki 29 October - 3 November 2002 (PDF). Thessaloniki, Greece: Hellenic Ministry of Culture. pp. 169–180.
• Andreas Agnellus (2004). The Book of Pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna. Translated by D. Mauskopf Deliyannis. Washington: The Catholic University of American Press.
• Andreescu-Treadgold, Irina; Treadgold, Warren (1997). "Procopius and the Imperial Panels of San Vitale". Art Bulletin. 79 (4): 708–723. doi:10.2307/3046283. JSTOR 3046283.
• Mango, Cyril (1986). Art of the Byzantine Empire, 352-1453: Sources and Documents. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-6627-5.
• Procopius (1961). On Buildings. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by H.B. Dewing and Glanville Downey. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Tedeschi, Claudia; Muscolino, Cetty (2005). "Il pavimento musivo di San Vitale: Nuove osservazioni riguardanti l'aula ottagonale". In Bakirtzis, C. (ed.). Proceedings of VIIIth Conference of the International Committee for the Conservation of Mosaics (ICCM). Wall and Floor Mosaics: Conservation, Maintenance, Presentation, Thessaloniki 29 October - 3 November 2002 (PDF) (in Italian). Thessaloniki, Greece: Hellenic Ministry of Culture. pp. 73–80.
• Von Simson, Otto G. (1987). Sacred Fortress: Byzantine Art and Statecraft in Ravenna. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00276-7.
• Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. (1979). Age of spirituality : late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century: Catalogue of the exhibition Nov. 19, 1977 - Feb. 12, 1978. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 666–667. ISBN 978-0-87099-179-0.

Media related to San Vitale (Ravenna) at Wikimedia Commons

• History of Byzantine Architecture: San Vitale (photos)
• Great Buildings On-line: San Vitale (photos)
• Adrian Fletcher's Paradoxplace Ravenna Pages (photos)