Galla Placidia Mausoleum
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The mausoleum of Empress Galla Placidia is located in the city of Ravenna in Italy .
The mausoleum
It is especially famous - like the other Byzantine churches and buildings in Ravenna - for the wall mosaics inside. They have been excellently preserved and represent the oldest mosaics in Ravenna. Together with the other Byzantine buildings in Ravenna, the mausoleum of Galla Placidia has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996 .
According to tradition, the mausoleum was built as the burial place of Empress Galla Placidia , the daughter of Emperor Theodosius the Great, between the years 425 and 430. The Empress died in Rome in 450 and it is unlikely that she was buried in the mausoleum: “There are no indications of the empress' mausoleum in the small, cruciform chapel. Rather, it is an oratorio of St. Laurentius, who was taken over from Rome as imperial saint. ”However, the pictorial program (see below) has the character of a sepulchral chapel, so that the theory of a burial chapel cannot be refuted.
Originally the mausoleum was attached to the narthex of the church of S. Croce, which Galla had also built. So it would actually be more like a (burial) chapel. The younger church of San Vitale is in the immediate vicinity .
The outside of the building looks clumsy, the floor is now 1½ meters below normal street level. The floor plan is cross-shaped, 12.75 m long, 10.25 m wide, the lower walls are decorated with arches and pillars and contain seven long narrow windows. The dome has a diameter of 4.40 m and is covered by a tiled roof.
Inside, bathed in a mystical golden light through the alabaster windows , there are magnificent mosaics that cover the entire surface of the vault and the central dome as well as the walls at the ends of the four wings. The base zone consists of yellow marble . The mosaics are made in the late antique style , figures and landscape decorations are particularly vivid . The structure of the building consists only of blind arches and pilaster strips, which appear here for the first time in architectural history and were later often taken up in Lombard architecture.
The church was dedicated to St. Lawrence , depicted with the rust on one of the mosaics on which he was martyred . The southern mosaic also refers to the canonization of the New Testament after the third Synod of Carthage : the four Gospels survived the baptism of fire and have taken their place on the shelf, the other writings are burned.
The ceiling is a deep blue sky decorated with white and gold stars. The stars in the barrel vaults are due to their special design as the most beautiful star representations of late antiquity. You can also see the symbols of the four evangelists , eight figures generally referred to as apostles in literature (including Peter and Paul), as well as a young beardless Jesus in the entrance lunette, who, as a good shepherd, grazes his sheep and lovingly strokes one while at the same time he is holding a golden cross as a sign of hope and a symbol for overcoming death. In this portrayal, Christ is described in literature as the "enthroned emperor" (he holds the cross like a scepter; his pallium is purple, which was the color of the emperors). Pigeons and deer feast on fresh water, the colors of the representation range from blue tones through yellow and ocher to dark and light green. The flatness of the representation is striking: the sheep are more or less “stacked”, there is no overlap.
In the cross arms of the mausoleum there are three large sarcophagi made of Greek marble, the allocation of which is uncertain.
On the historical significance of the mosaics
The mosaic technique had a long tradition in ancient Greece and Rome. At the end of the 4th century it flourished again when art sponsors and artists themselves wanted to create a new, typically Christian art. That was not so easy, because early Christianity initially rejected any figurative ornament in order to clearly differentiate itself from the pagan tradition. The first pictorial representations appeared in the catacombs at the end of the 2nd century and they were limited to the symbols for the central expectations of early Christianity, for salvation and for the life beyond. Such symbols as the Good Shepherd, the fish as the central symbol for a baptized person and the cross were created here. Representations of the New Testament such as B. the scene "Maria with the child", which later became so popular, did not appear until the 3rd century.
But at the beginning of this development it turned out to be difficult to depict such abstract Christian terms as “redemption” or “the spiritual power of angels” at all. So one came up with the idea of taking over the material and formal arsenal of the previously known mosaic art of the Roman Empire, but expanding and increasing it by using colored or gilded glass cubes and thus achieving an unearthly shine. The image motifs were initially based on the well-known forms of late antiquity, but were given a different meaning through additional Christian symbols.
The material of the work of art was not indifferent. The durability of the mosaic in comparison to other artistic techniques, especially the fresco, could also be seen as evidence of the eternal truth of the Christian faith. In the mausoleum you can see the famous motif of the good shepherd on the bezel, where the use of gilded glass is particularly intense.
The mosaics of the mausoleum have salvation as a general theme - and this central theme is also echoed in numerous individual scenes. At first glance, it seems to be more of a lyrical pastoral scene. But the real message is: “I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) Through this metaphorical image, Christ foretells his sacrificial death on the cross and thus the redemption of man.
In the formal design of such a scene, the early Christian artist had no choice but to use the well-known Roman-ancient themes, but then to modify and reinterpret them in a Christian way. The scene of the “Good Shepherd”, for example, was based on ancient depictions of the Orpheus myth. Only the wreath of saints and the golden robe are new as a Christian reference.
The particular importance of the mosaics in the mausoleum is primarily due to their age and the fact that a relatively complete overall composition has been preserved here. In Byzantine art in particular , this is not a matter of course (see Byzantine Iconoclasm ).
Mosaic picture gallery
Mosaic on the left when entering
Mosaic with St. Lawrence opposite when entering
Mosaic on the right hand side when entering
Mosaic above the entrance
Ceiling mosaic (vault decoration)
Mosaic in the entrance bezel. The good shepherd . Made between 424 and 450.
Mosaic with the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, detailed view
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Comparative examples
- The side chapel (Parekklesion) of the Pammakaristos Church
- Zeno Chapel of S. Prasede (Rome)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Georg Kauffmann : Emilia-Romagna, Marken, Umbria. Monuments and museums (= Reclams Art Guide Italy. 4 = Reclams Universal Library . 10206). Reclam, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-15-010206-5 , pp. 524-526.
- ↑ Jürgen Rasch: The dome in Roman architecture. Development, design, construction. In: Architectura. Vol. 15, 1985, ISSN 0044-863X , pp. 117-139, here p. 134.
Web links
Coordinates: 44 ° 25 ′ 15.5 ″ N , 12 ° 11 ′ 49.4 ″ E
