Il Battistero

The Baptistery of St. John has an octagonal plan, covered with white and green marble. It was built aroun 4th-5th century in Roman epoch. Untill 1130 the Bapistery was the Basilica of St. John, then the Cathedral became Santa Reparata. In the Batipstery were baptized Dante and other important Florentine.

It is very famous for its brinze door: the east door, named the Porta del Paradiso by Michelangelo, is the masterpice by Lorenzo Ghiberti and contains Old Testament scenes: The Creation and Expulsion from Paradise, Noah’s Sacrifice and Drunkeness, Abraham and the Angels and the Sacrifice of Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Moses receiving the Tablets of Stone, the Fall of Jericho, Battle with the Philistines, Salomon and the Queen of Sheba. Inside note the beautiful mosaics of the Cupola by Cimabue.