Churches: The Cathedral of Florence (Part 3 of 3)

The Baptistery:  In the square in front the cathedral is a large baptistery, dedicated to John the Baptist, who is the patron saint of Florence.  The current building dates from 1059 and has been altered over the centuries.  The site has been the location of a baptistery since about 400 A.D.

The Baptistery of Saint John (Battistero di San Giovanni)

The crown of the Baptistery

The main altar of the baptistery

The mosaic ceiling of the baptistery is a sight to behold.

The Crypt:  Underneath the cathedral is a lot of history, reaching back more than 2,000 years to the time when Florence was known as Fluentia, a walled Roman town.  Walking down the stairway inside the cathedral near its front is like traveling back in time, where you can walk among Roman ruins and the ruins from successive churches built and rebuilt on the site. 

Let's take a walk through history.   

The floor of the ancient church with mosaics  

View of the ruins through a glass floor 

A tomb in the ancient church

In the diagram above, you can see that the current cathedral (outlined in the lightest color) dwarfs the ancient church of Saint Reparata (outlined in pink).  

In the cathedral's crypt, there is a gift shop.  Once inside the gift shop, you can view a tomb through a locked gate.  It is the final resting place of Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi, who designed the dome of the cathedral in which he was buried.   We suppose this gives new meaning to the phrase "must exit through gift shop". 

Thanks for joining us for a tour of the cathedral of Florence.  Now exit through the gift shop, please!