ARCHIEPISCOPAL MUSEUM AND CHAPEL OF ST. ANDREW, St. Andrew's Chapel

The Archbishop's Chapel found on the second floor of the Palace is dedicated to St. Andrew. It was built at the behest of Bishop Peter II around 500 A.D., at the time when Ravenna had fallen to Theodoric's Ostrogoths.

The reason for its construction is curious: this Orthodox Catholic building was in fact intended as a protest against the predominant cult at that time, Arianism.

The chapel consists of two small rooms: an entrance hall and the chapel proper with its small but wonderful apse.

As you enter the entrance hall, you immediately notice the marbles lining the lower part of the walls, then your gaze ascends to the vault with a triumph of golden tiles that serve as a backdrop to a rich decoration of white lilies and birds of various species that recall the image of the Earthly Paradise.

If you turn toward the entrance, immediately above, you find an unusual image of Christ the Warrior, a true declaration of war on Arianism: Christ, dressed as a soldier, crushes the head of a snake, a symbol of sin, and a lion representing heresy. Along the walls, gold lettering on a blue background enhances the importance of the mosaic, with the words: "whether the light was born here or imprisoned here, it reigns free."...