Anybody can make history; only a great man can write it.
– Oscar Wilde
You’re standing inside a church in a city that was once the capital of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoth Kingdom and the Byzantine Empire. Today, this little-known town has eight UNESCO World Heritage sites featuring the best Byzantine art outside Istanbul combining Greco-Roman, Christian and Oriental styles reflecting the city’s crossroads between East and West.
Here, too are the mausoleums of two men. The first came from a region in today’s western Hungary. Reared in Constantinople as a hostage, he later conquered the lands from Spain to the Balkans ruling from this city for 33 years. During his reign he launched a vast rebuilding project, fostered religious tolerance, integrated Gothic and Roman legal systems, and was considered an emperor in everything but title.
Nearby is a crypt for a man exiled to the city in the 14th century. Finding patronage from the local ruling family, he completed his masterwork, publishing a piece that influenced art, shaped modern language and redefined literary structure.
Reid and Robie ask, “Where are you now?”
Send us the name of the city, and we’ll post the winner with the next Where are you now? quiz.
The answer to the last Where are you now? quiz was the Sacsayhuamán outside Cusco, Peru answered correctly by Marbeth Richmond. Congratulations!
Reid & Robie 