Ravenna, il mosaico Onda che decora la scala del museo Classis.

Ravenna, esterno del Museo Classis con in primo piano il mosaico dell'Onda.

Museums

Classis Ravenna-Museum of the city and the territory

A milestone in the journey through the history of Ravenna

Ravenna, Museo Classis, veduta del complesso museale dall'esterno.

Ravenna, museo Classis, dettaglio della linea del tempo.

Through a chronological narrative path you will discover the roots and the fascinating evolution of the cities of Ravenna and Classe –the fundamental centers of transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.

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History

The museum is set up inside the former Classe Sugar Factory, built in the early 1900s, and today is one of the most important archaeological museums in Italy.
Outside we are greeted by the striking mosaic of the Onda (lit. Wave), created by master-mosaicist Paolo Racagni together with the RavennAntica Foundation’s Ancient Mosaic Restoration Laboratory. It is a tribute to the history of the place, in which water (the sea and the marsh) was the founding element. The museum tour allows us to immerse ourselves in the millennial history of the city, from its origins to the 8th century. Valuable finds unearthed in the numerous excavation campaigns in Romagna, especially in Classe, are housed there –alongside modern multimedia tools.
The wealth and power of the ancient capital Ravenna was indivisible from the city of Classe, one of the most important centers of international trade. In 27 B.C. Emperor Augustus established the imperial fleet (Classis) there, which controlled the entire Adriatic Sea and was a rich and flourishing city with splendid basilicas and buildings, which have now disappeared. The Classis Museum, along with the basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe and the nearby the archaeological area of the Ancient Port, are essential to learn about the importance and splendor of the lost ancient city.

Must-see mosaics in this place

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Mosaic from Via Dogana, Faenza

The owner of the domus in Via Dogana, Faenza, may have been a fifth-century imperial official who identified himself with the characters of myth. In fact at the entrance to his home he had these twenty splendid squares made with soldiers, bearded men in robes, muses, Nereids. In the square in the center, the most important, we see Achilles naked and heroic on a throne. He receives a visit from the old and frail Priam, who begs him to get back the body of his son Hector, to give it a proper burial. It is a scene from Book 24 of the Iliad. The skilled and refined mosaicists involved used few materials and delicate colors: river pebbles, red marble tesserae, Verona rose marble, black marble from Italy, and white marble for the background.

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Ravenna, Museo Classis, dettaglio di Achille con un soldato, dal mosaico della Domus di Via Dogana.

Fragment from San Severo, Classe

The basilica of St. Severus was built in the 6th century on a villa from the Augustan age, later transformed into the tomb of the Holy Bishop Severus, the 11th successor of St. Apollinaris. Of the huge structure, one of the largest in the Ravenna area, destroyed in 1820, only the foundations remain. In this majestic fragment of the floor, composed of an interweaving of circles that intersect in spindles, squares, Malta crosses, small and large squares in green, white and red marble, a detail is hidden. In the upper left corner is a quail. The quail was a Christian symbol: popular beliefs held that, in case of danger, it sacrificed itself to save its chicks, like Jesus on the cross for the human being.

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Ravenna, museo Classis: frammento di mosaico pavimentale con forme geometriche e quaglia.

The Good Shepherd

The very large floor mosaic we can admire was found in the Domus on Via D’Azeglio in downtown Ravenna, right where the Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra stands today. In the fascinating, and almost boundless, and woven, decoration a man is depicted in the center. He is wearing a short tunic and high sandals. With his legs crossed, he leans on a staff and strokes the muzzle of one of his lambs. His hair is dark and his head is framed, as if in a halo, by two facing peacocks perched on a cypress branch. To our right, tied to the branch, appears a musical instrument: the syrinx. We do not know who it is. It could be the master of the house who, according to the fashion of the time, had himself portrayed in a bucolic setting; or a representation of the Good Shepherd; or, less likely, a representation of the myth of Orpheus.

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Ravenna, museo Classis: emblema a mosaico raffigurante il Buon Pastore, fine IV secolo. Foto Ravennantica.

Pavemental mosaic from the so-called Theodoric’s Palace

The large floor mosaic comes from the so-called Palace of Theodoric and was found in the excavation campaigns of 1908-1914 .It probably dates back to the 6th century and decorated the floor of a room, which was very lived in. Walking on the mosaics in fact led to the failure of the mortar and thus to the detachment of the tesserae: if we look closely, in some parts the white background gives way to gray tesserae and the decorative motif breaks up. These are signs of ancient restoration. The decoration is geometric and harmonious, executed with tesserae of white marble, black marble from Italy, rose marble from Verona, palombino marble, and cotto marble. We see talus and scale motifs in the triangular sections at the sides, while a braided frame runs through the central body, disentangling rhombus motifs decorated with contrasting trellises.

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Ravenna, Museo Classis: mosaico pavimentale proveniente dal cosiddetto palazzo di Teodorico, foto Ravennantica.

Info & Tickets

Via Classense, 29, 48124 Ravenna RA

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Entrance fee

Adults: € 8
Concessions (groups, students under 26 years, ICOM, Card Cultura): € 6
Schools: € 5

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Combined Ticket

> Classis Museum + Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe: € 9; concessions € 8 (18-25 years); € 6 (7-17 years)
Audioguide: € 1
Advanced booking is highly recommended on: info.ravennantica.it
Admission and guided tours for schools: € 6 per child
Educational workshops: € 6 per student
For information and school reservations: +39 0544 36136 (from Monday to Friday 9 am – 1 pm)
Email: didattica@ravennantica.org

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Booking

Advanced booking is highly recommended on: info.ravennantica.it
For information and school reservations: +39 0544 36136 (from Monday to Friday 9 am – 1 pm)
Email: didattica@ravennantica.org

Free of charge

Children under 6 years old; tourist guides; employees of the Ministry of Culture; journalists; people with disabilities and caregivers; group leaders; soldiers.

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Ravenna, due persone ammirano un mosaico al Mar, Museo d'Arte della città di Ravenna.

Mosaic Places

Explore the other Museums of Ravenna

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