Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
5
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
What is Travelers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Top ways to experience Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
The area
Address
Reach out directly

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

5.0
5.0 of 5 bubbles3,587 reviews
Excellent
3,123
Very good
406
Average
41
Poor
7
Terrible
10

ANGELO V
Milan, Italy2,939 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2023
The mausoleum of Galla Placidia dates back to the first half of the 5th century AD. Its identification as a funeral building for its client, the Empress Galla Placidia, are widely spread, but there is no certainty of either.
The building is very small, and it is decorated with a cycle of mosaics, among the oldest in the city, dating back to the second quarter of the fifth century. At the end of the arms are three marble sarcophagi, the one in the central arm from the Roman era, the two placed in the side arms from the 4th and 5th centuries.

The windows are covered with translucent plates of alabaster, giving off a golden light when they are struck by the sun.

The dome is dominated by the Cross in a vault of stars of decreasing size upwards, on a blue background.

The lunettes of the dome show pairs of Apostles, and the lunettes at the end of the building arms show the Good Shepherd, the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, and deer among branches of shrubs, while drinking.

The barrel vaults and the arches of the arms are richly decorated with festoons of flowers and fruit and geometric interweaving.

There is a cumulative and cheaper ticket, allowing to visit the basilicas of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, San Vitale, the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Neonian Baptistery, the Chapel of Saint Andrew and the archiepiscopal museum.
The ticket is valid for seven consecutive days, and it allows one entrance to each site.

Entrance to the mausoleum of Galla Placidia is limited, and the date and time of entry must be specified when buying the ticket. The visit should not exceed 10 minutes.

The mausoleum was inscribed with seven other "Early Christian Monuments and Mosaics of Ravenna" buildings as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Written February 9, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Stephen D
Manchester, UK588 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020 • Couples
This is the highlight of a truly stunning collection of mosaics in Ravenna. A combined ticket gets entry to five sites.
This mausoleum is the smallest and we were lucky to have to ourselves (a rarity but coronavirus has a silver lining!).
The quality of the work is amazing and the images remain as bright as the day they were created.
Written March 10, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

David B
Canterbury, UK108 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021
The mosaics at the Mausoleo di Galla Placida have been beautifully kept, and are worth seeing. Again, tickets are for specific times and must be booked in advance (even if only a few minutes in advance). Give yourself time to let your eyes adjust to the dark and really appreciate the mosaics.
Written June 16, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

DERtravels
Pomona, CA1,441 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2019
This small but well preserved mausolean is a must see. The mosaics are from the 6th century. Look closely and you will see figures the four evangelists and the apostles and there are 507 gold starts in this building.

Your time is limited because of the demand on the attraction. So drink in the sight while you can.
Written September 27, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

JJJC_Family
Virginia810 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2021
Right by the Basilica di San Vitale, this building is perhaps the oldest in Ravenna, (built 425-450AD for the daughter of Emperor Theodosius the First) and it looks it. A little less refined in craftsmanship, but very interesting, nonetheless. And still nice to look at. It’s the smallest building we saw, but had so much to see despite its size and it was fairly intricate so that we stayed much longer than I would have thought we would. This is how schedules get blown up. The more I travel, the more I don’t care. If I want to stay longer somewhere and it means I won’t see everything I planned in a city, c’est la vie. Better to savor the moment. Thinking about it, I guess the fact that this was built in the last gasp of the western Roman empire makes it kind of special for a person who came late to an intense interest in Roman history, which only grows more intense the more I read and the more I see. If you consider the Byzantine Empire, an extension of the Roman Empire, as they did and as they were viewed from the outside, then the Romans were far and away the most influential civilization in the history of man, literally beginning the creation of modernity. This is hardly a novel thought. Yet for me personally, as I travel in Italy and beyond and continually run into pieces of Rome wherever I go, I can’t help but be amazed at how this initially small town on the Tiber River grew into a mighty machine sucking up and re-making lands so far from home. Just on this trip we saw the large Roman city of Conimbriga in Portugal and Roman walls in Barcelona and there were many more like that on this trip alone. Pardon the pun, but each new place is like a part of a mosaic that was Rome. Enough.
Written January 1, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Francisco Jose Fernandez Sanchez
Las Rozas, Spain557 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2022
It is one of the visits that one should not miss in Ravenna
It is advisable to go outside the tourist seasons and holidays, since on those dates it is crowded with tourists and it is difficult to get tickets
The building is small and seen from the outside one cannot imagine the wealth of mosaics that it treasures.
The mausoleum is small, so the number of visitors is restricted, and only when there are few people can one enjoy the richness of its mosaics.
In principle, the time that one can spend admiring the mausoleum is not restricted, however it is advisable to have a guided tour that explains all the details of the mausoleum so that the visit is really worth it.
Written January 13, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

txchic
Houston400 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2022
We were fortunate in coming here soon after Italy opened up after Covid. Our timed tickets alloted about 10 minutes in the small space, but since there was no queue outside the attendant allowed us to stay as long as we wanted. I think we stayed for almost 45 minutes. There is so much packed into the little mausoleum. The mosaics are spectacular.
Written November 19, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

KatrinaMolini
Corciano, Italy7,514 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2022 • Couples
This was our first stop to check out Ravenna’s mosaics and it was outstanding. The intimate space filled with people in awe and gorgeous mosaics were amazing and soecial. None of the other mosaics places in Ravenna could top it for us later.
Written October 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

PavlaPavla
Chrudim, Czech Republic6,560 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022
This mausoleum is located next to the Basilica di San Vitale. It is quite small but full of beautiful mosaics.

Although the mausoleum bears the name of Empress Galla Placidia, she was not buried here. She was the patron of the construction of this building.

The ceiling covered with a blue mosaic depicting the starry sky is really beautiful. There are almost 800 stars in that mosaic. In addition to mosaics depicting scenes from the life of Christ and other saints, there are also several sarcophagi.
Written July 27, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mvidro
Washington DC, DC435 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2022
This was a primary draw for Ravenna (we were lucky to stay for 3 days). Unsure what to expect in terms of COVID protocols, I bought UNESCO combination tickets for 5 sites before leaving home. (Although I booked particular days and times, day was more important than the time. Those who wished could purchase tickets at a nearby bookshop. Operators only expected visitors to remain for 5 minutes (unclear if this was size or COVID related). Fortunately, no one enforced that. We stayed for 20, studying the ceiling from different chairs.
Written June 19, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Showing results 1-10 of 580
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing

Mausoleo di Galla Placidia - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Frequently Asked Questions about Mausoleo di Galla Placidia

According to Tripadvisor travelers, these are the best ways to experience Mausoleo di Galla Placidia: