Neonian Baptistery

The separate hall beside the cathedral was built with a stone dome, marble walls, and a mosaic vault. At its center stands a circular marble bowl, installed later above the original font; the old floor lies almost three meters below the present one. The twelve apostles proceed in a circle above, and above the northeastern niche survives the monogram of Bishop Neon, whose name remained in the building's title.

In the fifth century, an adult resident of Ravenna came to this hall for an action that happened to them once in a lifetime. Many people postponed baptism until adulthood. Until then, a person remained a catechumen—a student of the faith. They were not admitted to communion with bread and wine; the doors to that part of the service were guarded.

At the beginning of Lent, the candidate appeared before the bishop with a sponsor. The bishop personally checked whether the candidate was ready to enter the community. Then came weeks of fasting, instruction, and daily rites of casting out evil spirits. The main baptism took place on the night before Easter, when the death and resurrection of Christ could be reenacted in the movement of a human body: descending into the water and rising from it.

The complete Ravennate rite has not come down to us. It is reconstructed from the related Milanese rite and the inscriptions preserved here. The bishop consecrated the water and asked the person being baptized whether they believed in God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. After each answer, the person was immersed in the font—three times in all. Then their forehead was anointed with consecrated oil, and they were dressed in a white garment, which the participants apparently brought themselves. From the baptistery, the newly baptized moved into the neighboring cathedral for their first communion. The catechumen, once stopped at the doors, returned there as a full member of the community.

In the middle of the fifth century, Neon was bishop of Ravenna. His predecessor Ursus began building the baptismal hall, but Neon ordered a stone dome to be erected, the walls to be faced with marble, and the upper part to be covered with mosaics. That is why the separate building next to the cathedral acquired his name.

The arrangement of the images repeated the course of the rite. Directly above the font, Christ stands in the water of the Jordan River. Below, twelve apostles move in gold and white garments, holding crowns in their hands. Lower still, altars with open Gospels alternate with empty thrones. Beneath this procession, people emerged from the water, changed into white clothes, and made their way to the cathedral altar.

The ancient floor now lies almost three meters below the present one. The marble bowl in the center was installed later, but beneath it remains the base of the circular font into which the people being baptized descended. Above the northeastern niche, Neon's monogram survives in the mosaic. The present name—the Neonian Baptistery—comes from it and from the dome he commissioned.