The Archbishop's Chapel (or Archiepiscopal Chapel) is a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

on the first floor of the bishops' palace in

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

, Italy, the smallest of the famous

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

sites of the city. It is a private oratory of

Trinitarian The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

bishops dating from the turn of the 6th century. Although commonly attributed to St.

Peter Chrysologus Peter Chrysologus (, ''Petros Chrysologos'', "Peter the Golden-worded"; c. 380 – c. 450) was an Italian Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Ravenna from about 433 until his death. He is known as the "Doctor of Homilies" for the concise ...

Archbishop of Ravenna This page is a list of Catholic bishops and archbishops of Ravenna and, from 1947 of the Archdiocese of Ravenna and Cervia, which in 1985 became styled the Archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia.Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

, although the original dedication was to the Saviour, as evidenced by a

lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', 'little moon') is a crescent- or half-moon–shaped or semi-circular architectural space or feature, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be ...

over the vestibule door representing a beardless Christ treading on the beasts, dressed as a general or victorious Emperor. The lower parts of the walls are lined with marble slabs, while the rest of the interior used to be covered with rich, tapestry-like

s, as the vault still is. Some parts of these survive, while others were substituted with

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...

paintings by

Luca Longhi Luca Longhi (14 January 1507 – August 12, 1580) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance art, Renaissance or Mannerism, Mannerist period, active in and near Ravenna, where he mainly produced religious paintings and portraits. Biograph ...

in the 16th century.

Significance

According to the

ICOMOS The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS; ) is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world. Now headquartered in Charenton-le-Pont, France, ICOMOS was fou ...

evaluation of this

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

, "the significance of this property is the fact that it is the only Early Christian private oratory that has survived to the present day. Its

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

is also important by virtue of its strongly anti-

Arian Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered he ...

symbolism".

References

External links

ICOMOS evaluation of the property
{{Authority control 5th-century churches Roman Catholic chapels in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Ravenna Palaeo-Christian architecture in Ravenna Ostrogothic art Ravenna Early Christian art 5th-century establishments in Italy