Description of the attraction
The Mausoleum of Theodoric the Great, built by the Ostrogoth king Theodoric in 520, is located on the outskirts of Ravenna. It is the only surviving monument of Gothic architecture and the only tomb of a barbarian ruler. In 1996, the mausoleum was included in the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites, and now has the status of a museum open to tourists.
The Theodoric mausoleum was built of Istra stone on two tiers with ten sides, which are crowned by a dome 10 meters in diameter. The dome was made from a single piece of stone weighing 300 tons. Naturally, the Goths did not have the technical equipment to lift this monolith, so they covered the mausoleum with earth, dragged the dome onto the hill, and then removed the earth. Even then, in the 6th century, a city cemetery was located around the mausoleum.
When Ravenna came under the rule of the Byzantines, the body of Theodoric was taken out, and the building was turned into a Christian chapel. The sarcophagus of the formidable Ostrogothic king, made of porphyry, is empty today. In the 19th century, the mausoleum had to be urgently repaired, as a nearby stream washed away the foundation.
The building of the mausoleum, as mentioned above, has two tiers: on the upper one is the sarcophagus of Theodoric, and the lower one serves as a chapel (probably, members of the royal family should have been buried here). The lower ten-sided tier is decorated with semicircular arches, one of which is the entrance to the inside. There are six windows along the perimeter. A staircase leads to the upper tier, somewhat smaller in size, but also having ten faces. It smoothly merges into the annular part on which the dome rests. A frieze can be seen along the perimeter of the upper tier. Traces of a mosaic cross that once adorned the space have been preserved under the huge monolithic dome.
