Description: The Piazza del Duomo presents a harmonious ensemble, all green and white marble. Yet it is with the
Baptistery of San Giovanni that this fashion originated. The Campanile’s green banding was designed to match that of the Baptistery; the octagonal dome of the duomo was designed to reflect the octagonal form of the Baptistery. This is the oldest building in the Piazza. Indeed, it is the oldest religious building in Florence.
€3.00 to enter is well-worth the outlay. Inside golden bands of Byzantine-style mosaics ring the dome, with a Last Judgement over the ‘apse’. Hell here is depicted with a central squatting Satan. Like the Lucifer I had seen that morning at Pisa’s
Camposanto, this Devil was green – where on earth did the red demons of our iconography come from? There is a superb mosaic pavement featuting the signs of the zodiac roped off to allow you to view it. Originally the Baptistery held a huge octagonal submersion font. One thing that does remain here is the tomb of the antipope John XXIII, one of three competing claimants for the papal throne in the Great Schism.
There are also free leaflets in the Baptistery that go into details about all the buildings of the Piazza – it is hence useful to visit Baptistery before the duomo and campanile. This leaflet also gives a panel by panel breakdown of the North, South and Eaast doors of the Baptistery. The southern doors are the earliest, Pisano’s depictions of the life of St John the Baptist. The northern doors, by Ghiberti show the life of Christ. But it is the eastern doors, facing towards the cathedral, that are Ghiberti’s famed
‘Gates of Paradise’. The golden doors have quite remarkable 3D effects. Good luck trying to get an uninterrupted view of them. I shuffled forward through the crowd, camera ready. Just as I got to the front a barred gate rose to block the view! However, those in situ today are reproductions – the originals are housed in the
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, on the eastern flank of the square.
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