Capturing light in Late Antique Ravenna a new interpretation of the archbishops’ chapel

Vladimir Ivanovici

doi:10.2298/zog1337017i

Abstract

Analysing the cultural context in which the archbishops? chapel in Ravenna was built, the article proposes a new interpretation of the structure. Designed in a period when the Catholic Church and the Arian court were clashing, and displaying numerous baptismal motifs, the chapel seems to have been designed as a secluded baptistery. The structure?s baptismal character transpires from its architecture and iconography, analysed here on the backdrop offered by Late Antique baptismal theory and iconography.

Highlights

Analysing the cultural context in which the archbishops’ chapel in Ravenna was built, the article proposes a new interpretation of the structure
The inscription in its narthex testifies to the Late Antique practice of praising lavishly decorated interiors for producing their own light, but unlike similar texts the Ravennate one goes beyond aesthetic considerations, evincing a complex theology of the Divine Presence manifested as light and of the cultic building as its mise-en-scène
In light of our recent research on the role of light in Late Antique baptismal theology and ritual, we argue that the building was designed as a potential baptistery

Summary

Ravenna at the Beginning of the Sixth Century

The chapel is at the last floor of the three-level structure that Bishop Peter II annexed to the episcopium. Mauskopf Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity, 196, respatantiken Abendlandes, II. (1991/1992) 145–173; eadem, The Bishop’s Palace: Architecture and Mackie, Early Christian Chapels, 5, Peter II is said to have built a bap-. Mauskopf Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity, 113–114. While most of the original decoration survived in good enough state to allow its reconstruction, the original iconography of the apse and the chapel’s lunettes remains unknown. Along with this loss, the closing of the door that allowed the accessing of the narthex through the adjacent tower appears as the main factor affecting the perception of the chapel as it was intended by its builders (Fig. 1). The chapel’s architecture, inscription, and iconography support the baptismal thesis

II.1. The Architecture

26 On Chrysologus’ Christian as a luminous Image of God

Conclusion