The 4 F's

 I was browsing some books about Byzantium prior to ordering recently, and came across this mnemonic which I must have used for an art history exam in some dim and distant past. I did a search of my previous posts and discovered that I haven't written about my mind-boggling visits to two of the exquisite Byzantine churches of Ravenna, Italy and an astoundingly beautiful mausoleum.

 Perhaps I was just discouraged by the failure of my photos and my words to capture the feeling of the awe and wonder - transcendance - created by the shimmering coloured and gold mosaics and exotic decorative architectural elements.

At any rate, as you're curious, the memory trick that captures the key stylistic elements of Byzantine art is 'formal, frontal, floating and flat'. Like this grouping to the left.

One of the things that I find so intriguing is that this mosaic is from the year 547 CE, at least four centuries later than the Hellenistic (c. 1 BC to c.1 C) wonder-work of Laocoon and his Sons. Somehow realistic portrayal of the human body has yielded to the spiritual and new conventions prevail.

photo credit: Wikipedia

I borrowed from Wikipedia;  their photo of the tortured Laocoon grouping is a bit better than the one I captured at the Vatican! I'm tempted to write a slightly whiney story about my deeply unmoving visit to the Vatican Museums. I'll call it Drive-By Shooting.

 

All whinging aside, another reason I may have put off writing this post about Ravenna's churches is the sheer amount of memory I've had to travel back through! This is a long time ago, folks. 

And there is so much to learn, I am realizing that not all Byzantine art is one. Not all Byzantine art is glass mosaic, gold leaf and stylized human forms living by the four F's. Different eras, influences, political realities and religious views produced many different forms of art. Despite the intimidating amount of scholarship I have just amassed,  I am just going to post photos taken in two awe-inspiring churches, and one incomparable mausoleum, in Ravenna, Italy in 2023. The photos haven't faded (remember those faded pink 1970s memories?) although to some extent my memory has. But we'll just begin mining those good websites, right?

To capture more information on the era and its style, I'm collecting some SmartHistory links - A Beginner's Guide , another site on the culture and style and a free ebook (astonishing concept) the SmartHistory Guide to Byzantine Art. It features a chapter on San Vitale. I note at the end of a chapter I'm browsing that there's a link to the video version of the discussion. I dare say there's lots of overlap between these links I'm so delighted to post. 

These photos are from a tour of San Apollinaire Nuovo , built 500 CE by Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths as his palace chapel. These folk were Germanic Arian Christians who had invaded Italy in the late 400s and made Ravenna their capital.  

Later, Emperor Justinian sent his armies from Constantinople to take back the area from the Goths, and the church was rededicated in 560 CE    as an Orthodox Christian church. At that time, some of the murals were changed to remove references to Arian beliefs.

This short and scholarly Smarthistory video pretty much says everything of importance about the church. 

This  2023 Liturgical Arts Journal article popped up in my search. Sean Tribe does an outstanding job of highlighting each section of the mosaics and explaining who is represented; the photos are wonderfully clear. Some capture the entire length of the nave, taking me back to standing there, mouth agape, eyes skyward, trying to take in the processions of virgins and apostles. 

The shimmer of natural and (then) lamp light on the gold and coloured glass mosaics said what priests couldn't about the celestial domain and the pleasures of paradise. Honestly, my words fail. Do check out some of the sites I mention here - better photography and better words.

After clearing our palates with a guided walk through town (a stop at Dante's tomb in a busy side lane a minor distraction) we  toured the exquisite Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, built 436- 450. She was woman of the imperial family during the last days of Rome, then under seige by the Visigoths led by Alaric. An impressive woman, should you take the time to explore this link to an article in the Jan/Feb 2023 issue of the Smithsonian magazine. I hope the link stays active, it's a fascinating story.

The mausoleum, built of reused light-coloured Roman brick, is cruciform in shape with a central tower holding a dome, and blind arcades decorating the walls.

Our guide explained that the building has settled over the centuries, so it looks shorter than it was in the 5th century.  Hey, we all shrink.

I think it's quite beautiful, in a little green space with those gorgeous umbrella pines creating a pattern of light and shadow across its plain brown walls. Down an little path is the absolutely mind-boggling Basilica of SanVitale.

Once again, we have one of SmartHistory's outstanding videos with Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, to tell it better than I. (And yes, I am a proud supporter.)

I could not stop taking photos; it's another world inside. What the mind could not take it, the camera captured for later reflection. It was a wonder in a day of wonders in Ravenna.

I have tried to find words to do justice to this visit, and cannot. So in order to get this story posted during my lifetime I once again refer you to the sources I've collected.

The mausoleum is dark and splendid, lit magically via windows glazed with thin sheets of alabaster.

Honestly, how do you follow that? But the piece de resistance of our day in Ravenna was San Vitale (completed 527) an octagonal meld of Roman and Byzantine style with stepped towers, flying buttresses, an octagonal dome and multiple windows. Inside "the largest and best preserved collection of Byzantine mosaics outside of  Istanbul." (Wikipedia)

Once again I'll let the photos, and links to others' words, tell you more.

The floor mosaics were exquisite - could have spent the day looking down, and gone away replete. 

But inevitably your eyes are drawn heavenward. This is a church after all.

The double tiers of columns soar in the light forming ambulatories on two levels (one for the ladies) around the church. The column capitals and the impost blocks they support are unique and beautiful, deeply carved and decorated with imagery, a total departure from the classical columns in the various orders that we expect to see in churches.

And the mosaics, well. Every flat surface - domes, arches, vaults, pendentives, walls - covered with  millions of the most exquisite and exotic sparking glass and gold mosaic tiles forming images of wonderful complexity and beauty and power.

This UNESCO World Heritage church is best known for the Justinian and Theodora panels.

Emperor Justinian made sure he was represesented as a divine ruler, among the clerics - close association between church and state. He's holding a basket containing the bread of the Eucharistic sacrifice. Notice the imperial couple's halos?

And his impressive wife Empress Theodora appears with her attendants holding the chalice for the Eucharist.

This Smarthistory video does a better job of explaining the significance of each bit of mosaic artistry. 

The awe-inspiring terra cotta hollow-tube contruction of the dome is marred by an 18th century remuddle (thanks for the word, Laura.)

Not a big fan of the Baroque at the best of times, I take umbrage at the histrionic distraction from the perfect Byzantine mystery and serenity created by this Baroque hot mess of heavenly glory.

As promised, some other voices and images - I wonder if they, too, struggled to say what these sanctuaries made them feel?

Liturgical Arts Journal including tactful reference to the Baroque frescoes.

Rick Steves video, because he's been everywhere man.

The Byzantium Blogger   yet another book recommendation

Wikipedia has a lot to say.

Final word:  if  you ever get a chance to visit Ravenna, just GO.

Rhodes Scholar

 

Today I am revisiting the island of Rhodes.Our visit last fall was crowded and hurried, and although there was history magic all around, I haven't taken time to process what I saw until today. Thanks to a couple of hours this afternoon with a new history by John Julius Norwich (The Four Princes, 2016) I have fallen under the spell of the city and the time, and have returned to my photos - aided by other sites and contributors - to delve more deeply into what I saw, and make more meaning. 

We arrived in Rhodes by ship before 8am, a rainbow floating above the medieval walls of the UNESCO world heritage city. After the usual uber-efficient ship to shore shuffling, we made our way by foot to the 14th century D'Amboise Gates leading to the Grand Master's Palace just inside.

We were kept waiting for 15 minutes or so, as a movie shoot was taking place inside. Not a problem as the views were pretty amazing. Later I learned that it was The Raja Saab a piece of cinematic horror/comedy sure to last as long as these walls, that deprived us of ten minutes inside the walls on this tightly timed dance that is a guided tour. Ah well, maybe I'll catch the movie somewhere. 

What we were standing on was a drawbridge over a moat, now a linear park I could have spent hours in. Among its attractions were neat stacks of cannonballs used with great effectiveness by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent's Ottoman forces in their 1522 assault and eventual capture of the site. 

The residents of the walled palace were Knights - the stuff of video games - but real enough. This is the D'Amboise Gate, considered the most historically significant among the ancient gates of the 1309 CE walls. This gate was named for that Grand Master, led directly to his Palace and was a key defensive structure in those challenging times. Above the gate is the coat of arms of the legendary Knights Hospitaller and D'Amboise. A bit of green accentuates  the living history. 

This site features all of the gates.

How about those Knights? Again, too much to go into here, but I'll put down a bit of what I am learning, so it doesn't disappear like my glasses and that crossword I was working on. 

Think back to the Crusades. Too far? There were different branches of monk-knights from many countries who came into being as protectors of pilgrims to the Holy Land. We're most familiar with the Knights Templar (who became fabulously wealthy and fell afoul of the French king in 1307) and the Knights Hospitaller, or order of St. John (who provided care to poor and sick pilgrims.) 

It's this latter group whose sometime home we visited on Rhodes. (I say 'sometime' because eventually they were defeated by Ottoman invaders, and relocated to Malta.) The Christian Knights were well-organized, governed by a Grand Master, and answerable only to the Pope.

And for some of the atrocities they committed over time against non-Christians, they are answerable to a higher power.

The marvellously crenellated medieval castle was built in 1309, when the Knights Hospitaller conquered Rhodes, and reworked the structures on the site.  I read it's one of the few examples of Gothic architecture in Greece. What they don't tell you is that you're looking at a facsimile. Of the 14th century Palace of the Grand Master only sections of main floor rooms and some of the fortifications remained after a gunpowder explosion destroyed much of the palace in 1856. 

Later, under Italian rule (1912-1945) Ottoman structures that had been added were removed, and a medieval architecture expert led the rebuilding of the palace and the nearby Street of the Knights. 

Here's the story from the official website.

 

These photos were taken as we travelled down the Street of the Knights, on our way to the Sea Gate through which we exited on our way back to the pier. I did my best to capture intriguing visual details along this, one of the best preserved medieval streets in Europe for later study (that would be today) while keeping up with my group and avoiding a mishap on the diabically slippery cobblestone streets.

Here's the official site again. The Street of the Knights was lined with the fine homes, or 'auberges,' each belonging to a 'langue' -" a regional division within the Knights Hospitaller representing a shared language, culture and administrative identity" including Provence, Auvergne, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Italy, France, Germany and England (until Henry VIII changed everything.) An absolutely fascinating bit of history. 

The building to the left is the Hospital of the Knights Hospitaller; it now houses the Archeological Museum. This is a wonderfully informative site - ViaGallica.com (it'll ask you to disconnect your ad blocker.)

Hope I can save it, and all these other links, helpful for reliving the walking tour and learning more about what we saw that day. If you're reading this,  you might enjoy clicking on one or two.

Perky little walking tour I enjoyed taking with the walkers- their curiousity and the photo captures that resulted are delightful

Palace of the Grand Master Palace Highlights official site. Tickets, anyone? Great photos of spots we didn't have time for.

I like this Armchair Traveller video, should you rather listen than read. She does a terrific job of explaining the revolving door of history on the island of Rhodes (the auto-generated captions struggled though, cringeworthy.)

Rob Coldwell's video gives attention to the emblems on the walls that identify the Knights of each country. Incidentally, the video describes the walk uphill from the hospital to the Palace of the Grand Master. We entered from a different gate, and walked downhill!

Et Tu Brute?

 Today marks the Ides of March. I won't go into detail - you either know or you'll look it up. What is delighting me about the day is that, despite it not being a good one for Julius Caesar, I was there.  In the Area Sacra of Largo di Torre Argentina, Rome, where the Roman senate was meeting, when Julius Caesar met his death at the hands of political opponents. Only I was a tad late, having arrived in 2024. 

One of the things I love about travelling is the "being there," the realization that one is standing in the exact spot where in real life, a long time ago, something that you'd known forever as dusty history, actually happened.

Which is why today sent me running to my photo files and Rome and my 'discovery' by twilight along Corso Vittorio Emanuele II after a long day at the Vatican, of the awe-inspiring Largo di Torre Argentina. I will direct you to my delight at the discovery. And its inhabitants.

And what I was looking for in those photos was this, the area between Temples B and C, where  I have it on good authority, the dastardly deed took place. 

My Man Hadrian

 

I've been wanting to write about my visit to Hadrian's Villa since returning from my week in Rome in 2024! Recently, something prompted me to take a look at my photos, and begin browsing for useful sites. Looking at the photos takes me right back to the day and the place.

 I remember the long walk (always more reliable than buses when one doesn't know the system) from my digs near the Pantheon to the point along Via Cavour where we were to meet the bus. I met two other solo senior women travellers, a pleasant thing. True to form we didn't group, but drifted comfortably in and out of each other's day.  

The hour coach trip from Rome to Tivoli was fascinating, every moment a bonus tour. We arrived, landed and began the walk up to the villa through ancient olive trees. Such old souls they were. I could gladly have spent the day under their gnarled branches, listening to their stories. 

We had a terrific guide, and the vast place cast a spell immediately. Perhaps the best way to begin is with this 15-year old video with then British Museum Director Neil MacGregor.

 He explains that the estate covered around 300 acres, of which around 100 are accessible today. And villa is a misnomer; the place was "the summer administration centre for the whole of the Empire" with room for the emperor and his court, the officials, administrators, the army, and all the servants and slaves needed to make things run smoothly. MacGregor describes the complex as the Empire in miniature, caryatids and crocodiles equally at home, as the architect/artist Emperor brought home ideas from his extensive travels around his empire.

The Philosopher's Hall

I continue to be awed at the age of the place. Hadrian started work here when he became emperor in CE 117. I read somewhere that he didn't like the accommodations on Palatine Hill. On his death in 138, he bequeathed it to another emperor, but over time interest waned (as did the Empire) and the decline began. One source paints an evocative scene of vegetation and layers of earth gradually overrunning the once-proud site and it was lost to memory. 

The site of Villa Adriana was identified by humanist scholar Biondo Flavia* in 1461; he shared news of the discovery with Pope Pius II. A classic case of the 'Renaissance' on the ground. When I later visited the Villa d'Este in nearby Tivoli I heard that one Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este pillaged the Villa Adiana site of marble and statues to aggrandize his palace during the 16th century. A simple cleric.

 In 1870 the Italian state took over management and scholarship of the site and it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999.

 (*In a post from last December I tried to explain what that time must have looked like to those who lived it. Messy, exciting, confusing, dangerous. The neat modern term 'Renaissance' was first used in France in the 1850s - although Vasari gave him a hint. ) 

Credit: Wikipedia. Thanks guys.

This ProWalk video is an hour and fifty minutes of well filmed, captioned exploration of all sectors on the huge site. I'd suggest turning off the sound, as the crunching of footsteps on the gravel can be distracting. The camera took me (and will again) to places not featured on our tour, which wisely concentrated on some of the most well-known and unique features.

I'll pop up a few of my photos with captions and invite you to learn more about places that interest you, not from me, but from this link, an absolutely monumental project by the University of Virginia and partners, called The Digital Hadrian's Villa Project. Seriously good: 360 degree photos, aerial photos, interviews, a virtual tour, text about each area of the complex and places I haven't even visited yet. I know, pretty nerdy stuff, but impresssive for enthusiasts. Mark? Well done UVA!

The Maritime Theatre

The Maritime Theatre was fascinating. On this round island, Hadrian built a sumptuous private retreat, with drawbridge yet.

Three Exedras

I'm not going to talk about each of these photos. Let's face it, this walk was in 2024, memory fails, and there are loads of experts in the links. 

Here are art historians I enjoy, Beth Harris and Steven Zucker of SmartHistory, talking about the Maritime Theatre. Nice photos.

a Roman road, the 100 Chambers built into the Pecile elevation

the Large Baths

Dome with oculus

The Canopus

Egypt fascinated Hadrian. The Canopus is the most outstanding creation in this place of wonders. It's said he had it built to evoke the town of Canopus, linked by a canal to the Nile, where his young lover Antinous drowned. 

The site is majestic today, imagine what it would have been when the perimeter of the pool was bordered with marble colonnades, Egyptian and Greek sculpture, and beautifully dressed guests strolling to a festive banquet . The Serapeum, a domed artificial grotto at the far end was a dining complex featuring sumptuous fittings and a curtain fountain. 

I'm going to list a few more sites here (just for me). I have enjoyed researching this site so much, that I want to retain what I've learned in one spot. And this is it!

Here's a fun blog with loads of great photos.

This Live Virtual Guide link is a keeper, both for the curious name and the delightful Italian woman who shares her enthusiasm for the place.

I've lost track of a quirky virtual tour, created by Dr. Bernie Fisher and the Khan Academy, a walkthrough with 'Hadrian' hosting and explaining the rooms and their uses. 

And finally, I discovered to my delight that the entire Yale University course I took non-credit as a MOOC on the edX platform a few years ago, An Introduction to Roman Architecture, is available now on YouTube. What a wonderful world. The prof, Diana Kleiner also produced the text for the course, Roman Architecture: A Visual Guide, which I purchased on Kindle. Full of photos! Would cost a million dollars to publish traditionally. Here's a link to lecture #15, on the Pantheon and Villa Adriana; she gets to the villa at about the 48 minute mark. The other lectures of the course are readily accessible on YouTube.

Incidentally, why the title My Man Hadrian? Not a perfect being, so much power often creates issues. But he is considered 'one of the five good emperors' in many sources I read. But why I call him 'my man' is because of what we have in common - a love of  architecture. 

Hadrian was an amateur architect, designing some of the structures on the Villa Adriana complex - he loved his pumpkin domes, I read. And he also gets top marks because he commissioned two of the world's great gifts to architecture, the Pantheon (although some give credit to his adoptive father Emperor Trajan) and Hadrian's incomparable wall across England.

I wrote about my love affair with the Pantheon last January and again in April.

 Derek and Marjorie who introduced me to  Hadrian's wall

I'll do a post about Hadrian's wall at another time. In 1995 Denis and I visited Hadrian's wall with family living in nearby Carlisle. In 2019 we revisited a couple of favourite forts, and toured the massive excavations at Vindolanda. 

I'm speechless.