Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo stands on Via di Roma in central Ravenna and preserves the most extensive cycle of early Christian mosaic work of any single building in the world. The church was built by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, as his palace chapel around 504 AD, originally dedicated to the Saviour and used for Arian Christian worship. When the Byzantines conquered Ravenna in 540 AD the basilica was reconsecrated for Catholic use, and some mosaics depicting Theodoric and his court were modified — removing the royal figures while leaving hauntingly empty draperies and hands visible in the palace colonnade. The nave walls, rising 26 metres, are divided into three horizontal mosaic bands. The upper band shows 26 scenes from the life of Christ; the middle band depicts prophets and saints in frozen frontal poses against gold ground; and the lowest and widest band shows two famous procession mosaics. On the south wall, 22 virgin martyrs process from the port city of Classe toward the Virgin and Child; on the north wall, 26 male martyrs process from Theodoric's palace toward Christ enthroned. The palace depicted on the north wall still shows the ghostly traces of Theodoric's court — disembodied robes and hands protruding from the colonnaded facade — among the most haunting details in all of Byzantine art. The mosaic depiction of the port of Classe on the south wall is also among the earliest surviving urban landscape images in western art. The basilica is part of the Ravenna combined ticket. The narrow nave fills quickly with guided tour groups; visiting before 10 AM or arriving between 1 and 3 PM generally offers the quietest conditions. Allow one hour.