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Hidden gem5th – 6th c. ADTicketed

Archbishop's Chapel, Ravenna

Cappella Arcivescovile, Cappella di Sant'Andrea

church · Emilia-Romagna, Italy

What it is
The Archbishop's Chapel is a tiny private chapel of the bishops of Ravenna, built around 495 on the first floor of their palace and still keeping much of its original mosaic; today it is a room of the Archbishop's Museum, and ICOMOS describes it as the only early Christian private oratory that survives (en.wikipedia; Pleiades).
What you’ll see
A cross-shaped room with a small vestibule in front of it, lined with marble below and mosaic above (en.wikipedia; it.wikipedia).
Worth the trip?
As part of a day in Ravenna, yes - it is next door to the Baptistery of Neon, and it belongs to the same UNESCO listing as the city's famous mosaic buildings (it.wikipedia).
Getting there & cost
The chapel is in the Archbishop's Palace on Piazza Arcivescovado, next to the cathedral and the Baptistery of Neon; the museum's ticket office is at Piazza Arcivescovado 1 (the operator).Ticketed · Only on the diocese's five-monument ticket, €14.50 (with San Vitale, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and the Baptistery of Neon), valid seven days, one entry per monument · checked 24 October 2026Hours, tickets and parking
Looking up into a corner of the chapel's vault, covered in gold mosaic with white-robed winged angels; below them an arch lined with portrait medallions on a blue ground frames a small dome of gold stars on deep blue with a gold cross at its centre.
Mosaics of the vault and an arch, with the starry ceiling of the apse below. · Photo: Memi26 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The chapel's mosaic arches, gold with rows of portrait medallions, rising over a painted lunette of a figure in white among clouds with crowds below, above two round-headed windows and a carved marble capital.
Mosaic arches around one of the painted lunettes Luca Longhi added in the 16th century. · Photo: Incola · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A painted lunette of the body of Christ taken down from the cross, ladders against the cross behind the mourners, framed by an arch of mosaic portrait medallions; above, large mosaic busts of saints in round frames on gold.
Longhi's painted Deposition under a mosaic arch. · Photo: Incola · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What is there today

A cross-shaped room with a small vestibule in front of it, lined with marble below and mosaic above (en.wikipedia; it.wikipedia). Over the door into the vestibule, Christ is shown as a warrior in a purple cloak and breastplate, a long cross on his shoulder, treading on a lion and a serpent; the book in his hand reads Ego sum via, veritas et vita, “I am the way, the truth and the life”. The vestibule’s barrel vault is a pergola, in mosaic and paint, full of birds - doves, partridges, ducks, parrots, small peacocks (the operator).

In the chapel itself, four white-robed angels hold up the monogram of Christ at the top of the vault, with the symbols of the four Evangelists between them; on the undersides of the four arches are medallion portraits of Christ, the apostles and martyrs (the operator; it.wikipedia). Not everything is from the 490s. Much of the wall mosaic was replaced in the 16th century with paintings by Luca Longhi, among them the two side lunettes, and the arm of the cross that holds the apse was rebuilt in 1917 (en.wikipedia; it.wikipedia).

The chapel is reached through the museum, which takes up two floors of the palace. Its best-known piece is the ivory throne of Bishop Maximian; it also keeps a headless porphyry statue, probably of an emperor, a 6th-century marble Easter calendar, the silver cross of Bishop Agnellus and mosaics from the apse of the old cathedral (the operator).

Is it worth the trip?

As part of a day in Ravenna, yes - it is next door to the Baptistery of Neon, and it belongs to the same UNESCO listing as the city’s famous mosaic buildings (it.wikipedia). Not as a trip of its own: en.wikipedia calls it the smallest of Ravenna’s mosaic sites, one small room and its vestibule, and at busy times, and for groups, the operator limits a visit to the whole museum to 25 minutes.

It also cannot be bought on its own. The chapel and museum are only on the diocese’s five-monument ticket, €14.50, which is €2 more than the four-monument ticket for San Vitale, Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and the Baptistery of Neon (the operator). For €2 it is an easy addition; it is not a reason to come to Ravenna.

Getting there and what it costs

The chapel is in the Archbishop’s Palace on Piazza Arcivescovado, next to the cathedral and the Baptistery of Neon; the museum’s ticket office is at Piazza Arcivescovado 1 (the operator). The nearest bus stops, Guerrini-INPS and Piazza Kennedy, are about 110-120 m away, and the railway station square about 1 km (OpenStreetMap). No car park is mapped close by, only bicycle racks about 30 m away; drivers can use the large car park at Largo Imperatore Giustiniano, by the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (OpenStreetMap).

It is open daily, 09.00 to 19.00 (last entry 18.30) until 2 November 2026, and 10.00 to 17.00 (last entry 16.30) from 3 November 2026 to 6 March 2027; closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The five-monument ticket is €14.50, €13.50 for students and groups of more than 20, €4 for children aged 6 to 10, and free under 6; it is valid for seven days, one entry per monument. Entry to the museum is at a booked time; tickets for the same day are sold at the museum’s ticket office while places last. The way in is by the bookshop and up a staircase; visitors with limited mobility are taken to a goods lift through the garden, and there are two steps into the chapel (the operator, read 24 October 2026 - check before travelling).

Visiting details

Opening hours
Daily 09.00–19.00 (last entry 18.30) from 8 March to 2 November 2026; daily 10.00–17.00 (last entry 16.30) from 3 November 2026 to 6 March 2027. Closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
Tickets
Only on the diocese's five-monument ticket, €14.50 (with San Vitale, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and the Baptistery of Neon), valid seven days, one entry per monument. €13.50 for students and groups of more than 20; €4 for children aged 6 to 10 and other listed categories; free under 6.
Parking
No car park is mapped near the chapel, only bicycle racks about 30 m away (OpenStreetMap); the large car park at Largo Imperatore Giustiniano, by the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, is the one for drivers (OpenStreetMap).

Before you go

  • Entry to the Archbishop's Museum and the chapel is at a booked time; tickets for the same day are sold at the museum while places last.
  • At busy times, and for groups, a visit to the museum is limited to 25 minutes.
  • The way in is up a staircase; visitors with limited mobility are taken to a goods lift through the garden, and two steps lead into the chapel.

Hours and prices checked 24 October 2026 on the operator's own site. Confirm before travelling.

History

The chapel is commonly attributed to Peter Chrysologus, archbishop from 433 to 450, but it was built by Peter II, archbishop from 494 to 519, shortly after he took office (en.wikipedia; de.wikipedia). The mosaics date from the building or soon after (en.wikipedia). This was the reign of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric, an Arian Christian, and the chapel is the only building for the Catholic (Nicene) faith put up in Ravenna in those years (it.wikipedia; the operator). Its imagery says so: ICOMOS singles out its “strongly anti-Arian symbolism”, Christ trampling the beasts over the door among it (en.wikipedia; it.wikipedia).

Today the chapel is dedicated to Saint Andrew, but it was first dedicated to Christ the Saviour, as the warrior Christ over the door shows (en.wikipedia; de.wikipedia). It became part of the museum in the early 18th century, when Archbishop Maffeo Nicolò Farsetti, having demolished and rebuilt the old Ursiana cathedral, gathered its mosaics, inscriptions and capitals in one place (the operator). With the city’s other early Christian monuments it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1996 (it.wikipedia; Pleiades).

Nearby

  • Inside a long modern hall with a wooden ceiling and a glass wall looking out onto a street, the low walls and patterned mosaic floors of excavated rooms lie below the visitors' level.

    Photo: Capvalerio85 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons

    49 km · town house · Emilia-Romagna

    Domus del Chirurgo

    The excavation covers about 700 m², and the first mosaics lay some 2.5 m below the modern ground (it.wikipedia).

  • A tall single-arched gate faced in pale stone, with columns either side of the opening and a pediment above it, topped by a band of brick with swallowtail battlements; low stretches of brick wall run off on both sides, with a lawn and a flowerbed in front.

    Photo: Il Malatestiano · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons

    49 km · city · Emilia-Romagna

    Ariminum – Rimini

    The historic centre keeps the Roman town's street plan (en.wikipedia, Rimini), and its monuments are a short walk apart.

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Pleiades 51062012CC BY
Wikidata Q600062CC0
Wikipedia (en) — Archbishop's ChapelCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (de) — Erzbischöfliche Kapelle (Ravenna)CC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (it) — Cappella ArcivescovileCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (fr) — Chapelle archiépiscopale (Ravenne)CC BY-SA 4.0
UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Early Christian Monuments of Ravennalicence not recorded
Opera di Religione della Diocesi di Ravenna — Cappella di Sant'Andrea e Museo Arcivescovile (the operator)licence not recorded
Opera di Religione della Diocesi di Ravenna — hours and prices (the operator)licence not recorded
Opera di Religione della Diocesi di Ravenna — FAQ (ticket validity)licence not recorded