Churches: The Cathedral of Florence Revisited (Part 2 of 4)

Our return visit to the Duomo continues. 

The baptistery is a separate building directly in front of the cathedral.  It is much older than the cathedral.  Like the cathedral, the site of the baptistery has a long varied history.  Prior to the existing building, completed in 1128 after 7 decades of construction, there were two earlier baptisteries, one built in the late 300's and another built in the late 500's.  In the first century, there was likely a Roman building on the site, possibly a house. 

The baptistery has been important to Florentines because it represents the path to eternal salvation.  Infants and adults have been baptized there for many centuries, allowing them to enter the cathedral across the square.  Dante was baptized here.  He later wrote of the beauty of the baptistery:

Non mi parean [i fori] men ampi né maggiori che que' che son nel mio bel San Giovanni, fatti per loco de' battezzatori

(To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater Than those that in my beautiful Saint John Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers,) --Dante Alighieri - The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto XIX, Verses 16-18

The interior of the baptistery is beautifully decorated with marble floors and walls, with sculpted works of art and with mosaics on the ceiling. 

San Giovanni (St. John the Baptist)

The baptismal font

The images on the font are believed to be carved by Andrea Pisano or his students in the 1300's.

The baptistery has a conic dome with eight parts.  Inside, the dome is decorated with beautiful mosaics that tell stories from the Bible, including the Last Judgment, pictured below.

The marble altar in the baptistery today replaced the silver altar that was moved into the museum for conservation. 

Next Up:  From the baptistery to the cathedral's large museum.

P.S.   Below are photos of a reconstruction of an earlier baptismal font and enclosure.  The font and low wall around were located in the center of the building, focusing attention on the singular purpose of the building--baptism.