The Baptistry

It was just a short walk from our hotel to the Baptistry of Saint John on the Piazza san Giovanni. The Baptistry is relatively small in size, but we were most impressed by the beautiful brass panels and other ornamentation on the main door.

In Christian architecture the baptistry is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. In the early Christian Church, the catechumens were instructed and the sacrament of baptism was administered in the baptistry.

The sacramental importance and sometimes architectural splendour of the baptistry reflect the importance of baptism to Christians. The octagonal plan of the Lateran Baptistery, the first structure expressly built as a baptistry, provided a widely-followed model, also used for this baptistry in Florence.

In a narthex or ante-room the catechumens were instructed and made their confession of faith before baptism. The main interior space centered upon the baptismal font, in which those to be baptized were immersed thrice. Baptistries belong to a period of the church when great numbers of adult catechumens were baptized, and when immersion was the rule.

The Eastern door, the third set of bronze doors for the Baptistry of Florence, has ten panels depicting scenes from the Old Testament. This is the masterpiece of Lorenzo Ghiberti, who worked on it for 27 years. It was completed in 1452. Michelangelo defined the door as fit to be the "Gate of Paradise". At the centre of the door at left is the self-portrait of Ghiberti. The door's original gilding has recently been recovered from beneath the patina formed over the centuries.

The brass strip surrounding the larger panels on each door we found notable because of the heads of various historical figures that literally projected out from the surface of the door.

We did not see the inside. This information about baptistries is from the Wikipedia, and that about Ghiberti comes from Web Gallery of Art.