Spirito Santo (Ravenna)
The Church of the Holy Spirit (Italian Chiesa dello Spirito Santo ) in Ravenna is a three-aisled basilica without a tower in the historic city center.
Its beginnings go back to the 5th to 6th centuries. It was originally consecrated to the Anastasis (Greek word for resurrection) and was named Hagia Anastasis, based on the names of Byzantine cathedrals . In ancient Latin texts there is also the name Anastasis Gothorum (Church of the Resurrection of the Goths ).
Under the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great , who in spring 493 had seized power in northern Italy on behalf of the Eastern Roman emperor in Ravenna as the last conquered bastion, it was the main church of the Arians . The Arian Baptistery, some thirty meters away, belongs to the original complex of the sacred building . Some historians consider the Church of the Holy Spirit to be the first sacred building of the Goths in Ravenna; others assume that it was only converted into the main Arian church. At the time of Theodoric the Great, the residence of the Arian bishop is said to have been near the basilica.
Some walls and columns have been preserved from the original structure, the floor of which was 1.88 meters lower. The two aisles are separated from the approximately 26.40 meter long and 17 meter wide interior by two rows of columns, each consisting of seven columns. 13 of these raised columns are original columns from the original building; a column was made from cipollino . The size of the not very spacious basilica is comparable to the size of the Church of Sant'Agata dei Goti in Rome , which was built a quarter of a century earlier.
The church was rebuilt in the 16th century. The Renaissance portico dates from 1543. The gilded ceiling of the central nave was also built at this time. The apse does not contain any mosaic pictures.
In the middle of the right row of columns stands the original ambo on a marble plinth , the staircase of which is no longer there. The ambo from Theodoric's time is decorated with three shell-shaped aedicules depicting a kantharos and vines with grapes hanging from them.
In the first chapel of the left aisle is the old altar, which used to stand in the choir under a canopy supported by curved columns . Three of these curved columns were later reused during the renovation of the church in the 16th century for the construction of the Renaissance portico, two of the columns were integrated directly next to each other in the corner pillar of the entrance archway and the third in the opposite corner pillar of the entrance archway on the Church wall.
The name "Heiliggeistkirche" comes from a later time and comes from a legend according to which a dove was the decisive factor during the bishops' elections because their behavior was interpreted as a 'sign of God' (dove of the Holy Spirit). At the end of the right aisle there is a large painting by the painter Livio Agresti from Forli from the 16th century, on which the so-called 'pigeon bishops' ( Vescovi Colombini ) are depicted.
About 35 years after Theodoric's death (526), the basilica was catholicized by Bishop Agnello and dedicated to St. Theodorus, the soldier and martyr of Amasea and Ponto. It is currently used as a place of worship by the Greek Orthodox Catholic parish of Ravennas. In the apse traces of frescoes have been found depicting the life of St. Theodorus had on the subject. Historians therefore do not rule out that the apse, before the cathedral under Bishop Agnello St. Theodorus, mosaics from Arian times that were removed when the building was taken over by the Orthodox Catholic Church.
On the south side of the basilica a wall of the so-called 'Drogdone House' or 'Droedone House' was added. Historians do not agree on the affiliation of this wall. Some consider it a holdover from the Arian bishop's apartment; others are of the opinion that they originated more recently and that they belong to the late Byzantine era of Ravenna.
In addition to the Church of the Holy Spirit and the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo , the former court church of Theodoric, the Arians had the church of S. Andrea dei Goti at their disposal. The latter was destroyed by the Venetians in 1457.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gianfranco Bustacchini: Ravenna. Its mosaics, its monuments, its surroundings. Salbaroli, Ravenna 1984, p. 96.
- ^ Giuseppe Bovini: Ravenna. Art and history. Longo, Ravenna 1991, p. 8.
- ↑ See for example Georg Pfeilschifter : Theodorich der Große. The Teutons in the Roman Empire. Kirchheim, Mainz 1910, p. 70.
- ^ Theodor Gsell Fels : Upper Italy and Central Italy. 8th edition, in a new edition. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig et al. 1907, p. 274.
Web links
Coordinates: 44 ° 25 ′ 7.8 " N , 12 ° 12 ′ 10.3" E