Mosaics of Splendor

It's impossible to describe the experience, the effect, of seeing 9th century mosaics.  All my photos are just "meh."  I have to confess that for many years when I came to the mosaics in my humanities textbook I just 'this can be skipped.'  How wrong I was.  How foolish.  Truly, early Christian and Byzantine mosaics like the ones you can see in Rome and Ravenna (a June trip for this lucky girl) are breathtaking.  And so interesting!!! because in them you see artists trying to render an image for dogma and ideas that perhaps they're not even sure of.  What IS this new God?  He's kind of like an emperor, but not.  He's sort of a man, but he's not.  The narrative, the symbolism, the hierarchic structure of the heavens, the place of the angels....it's all being worked out in these magnificent works of art.

These above are from Santa Prassede.  And these below from S. Maria Maggiore:

And then on to S. Giovanni Laterano:

I couldn't get any closer.  The news station was there setting up for some kind of story and I couldn't get behind the rope.  Alas.  And speaking of the only news worth listening to.... Vatican radio is "Bringing Francis to the World" and it's a good thing.