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Ratchis was the Duke of Friuli (739-744) and King of the Lombards (744-749). He ruled in peace until he besieged, for reasons unknown, Perugia. Pope Zachary convinced him to lift the siege and he abdicated and entered, with his family, the abbey of Montecassino. After the death of Aistulf in 756, he tried once again to reign over the Lombards, but he was defeated by Desiderius and retired to a cloister.
The Altar of Duke Ratchis, in Carsic stone, is rectangular in shape and still has traces of its polychrome decoration. Christ in Majesty is carved on the front while two crosses on either side of an opening for relics are found on the back. The programme is finished with carvings on the sides of the Visitation and the Adoration of the Magi. The style is strongly anti-Classical.
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