Florence Baptistery

The Florence Baptistery (Italian: Battistero di San Giovanni), also known as the Baptistry of Saint John, is a religious building in Florence, Italy, and has the status of a minor basilica. The octagonal baptistery stands in both the Piazza del Duomo and the Piazza di San Giovanni, across from Florence Cathedral and the Campanile di Giotto.

 

The Baptistery is one of the oldest buildings in the city, constructed between 1059 and 1128 in the Florentine Romanesque style. Although the Florentine style did not spread across Italy as widely as the Pisan Romanesque or Lombard styles, its influence was decisive for the subsequent development of architecture, as it formed the basis from which Francesco Talenti, Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, and the other architects created Renaissance architecture. In the case of the Florentine Romanesque, one can speak of "proto-renaissance", but at the same time an extreme survival of the late antique architectural tradition in Italy, as in the cases of the Basilica of San Salvatore in Spoleto, the Temple of Clitumnus, the church of Sant'Alessandro in Lucca.

 

The Baptistry is renowned for its three sets of artistically important bronze doors with relief sculptures. The south doors were done by Andrea Pisano and the north and east doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The east doors were dubbed by Michelangelo the Gates of Paradise.

 

The Italian poet Dante and many other notable Renaissance figures, including members of the Medici family, were baptized in this baptistry. In fact, until the end of the nineteenth century, all Catholic Florentines were baptized here.

 

History of the Florence Baptistery

 

The Florentines long believed their baptistery to be an ancient pagan temple converted to Christian use. This is not the case, but it does incorporate many spoils from Roman buildings and stands over a Roman house with a mosaic pavement. And the baptistery is indeed ancient - built in the 4th or 5th century, it is the oldest building in Florence.

 

The baptistery was significantly enlarged and embellished in the Middle Ages. Attention was first focused on the interior, where the floor and walls were completely lined with decorative marble in the 11th century. The walls were given ancient monolithic columns and geometrical designs in green and white marble, while the floor received a splendid zodiac rose in inlaid marble.

 

In the early 12th century, the original sandstone exterior was replaced with green and white marble cladding. In the mid- to late 12th century, the Florentines added a small third level, a pyramidal roof and a lantern to the baptistery. And around 1202, the original round apse was replaced with the present rectangular structure. The magnificent mosaics of the interior were added in the 13th century.

 

In the Late Gothic and Renaissance periods, the baptistery's famous bronze doors were added. All three were sponsored by the wealthy woolworkers' (Calimala) guild. The first east door (now south door) was created by Andrea Pisano in 1330-36, the north door was designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1401-24, and the present east door (the "Gates of Paradise") was produced by Ghiberti in 1425-52.