The Ravenna reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Ravenna

This article is about Ravenna in Italy. For other uses of the name, see Ravenna (disambiguation).

Ravenna is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy

History

Ravenna was an important port and administrative center in the late Roman empire and the early Middle Ages.

After 493, Ravenna was the capital of the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy. Here the kingdom was ruled by Theodoric the Great.

Following the conquests of Belisarius for the Emperor Justinian I in the sixth century, Ravenna was the seat of the Byzantine governor of Italy, the Exarch. See Exarchate of Ravenna.

At that time the city was on the Adriatic Sea. Nowadays the city is land-locked.

After the Byzantine withdrawal Ravenna was ruled by legates of the Pope as one of the Papal States. It became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

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Sights

• Numerous beautiful late Roman and Byzantine mosaics remain to this day
• Mausoleum of Theodoric

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