Berlino. Staatliche Museen. Mosaico di S. Michele in Africisco

The apse mosaics of the now demolished church of S. Michele in Africisco from Ravenna. In the apsidal conch a young, beardless Christ appears with a cruciform halo. His right arm is outstretched and he brandishes a large gold-jewelled cross; he holds an open book with the legible Latin inscription with his left hand. He is flanked by two winged Archangels, Michael, on Christ’s right, and Gabriel, on Christ’s left. The early Christian medicinal saints Cosmas and Damian were depicted in the spandrels of the arch framing the apse (today, only the inscriptions remain). On the wall above the apse a bearded Christ is seated on a throne, again holding an open book in his left hand and giving a sign of acclamation or blessing with his right. Here also, he is flanked by two archangels, with the addition of seven angels sounding trumpets, four angels on his right, and three on his left.