The modest city of Ravenna, situated near the Adriatic coast in north-eastern Italy, hides an illustrious past filled with glittering treasures. In 402 A.D. Honorius, the Roman Emperor, moved the capital of the Western Roman empire from Milan to Ravenna, & furnished the city with churches clad in glistening mosaics & coloured marbles. Ravenna flourished after the demise of the Western Roman Empire under King Theodoric as capital of the Ostrogothic kingdom, who enriched it with further splendid mosaic-filled monuments. In 540 the Byzantine Emperor Justinian conquered Italy & chose Ravenna as the western capital of his Byzantine empire instigating yet another lavish period of patronage. The Lombards assumed control in 751 & decline followed, but ironically this ensured the survival of Ravenna's glorious heritage. J.R.R. Tolkien & Oscar Wilde were inspired by Ravenna's Early Christian & Byzantine monuments; their beauty, & complex layers of meaning continue to captivate today.