[1] The mausoleum's current structure consists of two decagonal orders, one above the other made of Istrian stone, sourced from a quarry approximately 400 kilometres (249 mi) away by land journey.

The mausoleum's roof consists of a single carved stone 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter weighing 230 tonnes.

Located in the centre of the upper floor is a fragmentary ancient Roman porphyry tub, likely from a bath complex, in which Theodoric was buried.

It was inscribed with seven other "Early Christian Monuments and Mosaics of Ravenna" buildings as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1996.

According to the ICOMOS evaluation, "the significance of the mausoleum lies in its Gothic style and decoration, which owe nothing to Roman or Byzantine art, although it makes use of the Roman stone construction technique of opus quadratum, which had been abandoned four centuries before" and in the fact that "it is the only surviving example of a tomb of a king of this period.