Duomo di Ravenna (Basilica Ursiana - Cattedrale della Resurrezione)

Ravenna's Cathedral of the Resurrection stands on the site of the early Christian Basilica Ursiana, built under Bishop Ursus in the fifth century. The present building is an eighteenth-century reconstruction, but its tenth-century bell tower, submerged crypt and historic furnishings preserve links to the earlier cathedral.

Why it matters

The cathedral has served Ravenna's religious community since the city's early Christian period. The original basilica was consecrated on 3 April 407 and dedicated to the Resurrection. The present cathedral reflects an eighteenth-century rebuilding, while surviving elements and works from the earlier church preserve its longer history.

What to notice

The dome, nearly fifty metres high, is frescoed by Giovanni Battista Barbiani and Andrea Barbiani. The Latin-cross interior contrasts with the five-aisled plan of the Ursian basilica. The marble ambo of Bishop Agnello, carved around 557–570, was brought from the earlier church. The Chapel of the Madonna del Sudore contains two fifth-century sarcophagi. The cylindrical bell tower, detached from the present building, dates to the tenth century; the earlier church's floor lies more than three metres below the modern street level.

Context and history

Ravenna's cathedral was established in the period following the transfer of the imperial capital to the city in 402. The Ursian basilica had five aisles and a polygonal apse. Its apse mosaics were renewed in 1112, and fragments from that campaign are preserved in the Museo Arcivescovile. In the mid-eighteenth century, Archbishop Maffeo Nicolò Farsetti commissioned Gianfrancesco Buonamici to rebuild the decayed cathedral. The reconstruction removed much of the medieval fabric but retained the tenth-century tower and the older crypt.