Details on Doors of Baptistery Florence Cathedral
In Christian religious architecture, Baptistery is a place for holy bath (baptism) of newly born. This Florence Baptistery was built in 1059 on the ruins of a Roman house. It has an octagonal shape with doors in 3 sides, north, east and south sides. Incidentally these doors of Baptistery Florence are more popular than the Baptistery itself.
I could see why. The eastern door opening towards the cathedral is most famous and is called Gates of Paradise! There are numerous little stories associated with the making of these doors.
Lorenzo Ghiberti was commissioned to design a second pair of bronze doors for Florence’s Baptistery. He labored on the task for 27 years, fashioning a masterpiece.
The iconographies of the 3 bronze doors illustrate the Bible.
East door has the scenes from the stories of Old Testament,
South door has the stories of Saint John the Baptist,
and North door has the Stories of Christ, or new Testament.
It will take at least half an hour to go around admiring and understanding the details on doors of Baptistery Florence.
Gates of Paradise
These are the doors that adorn the eastern side of the Baptistery free for tourists to view and photograph. The bronze panels of Gates of Paradise were like shimmering gold reflecting Florence sunshine that day.
Michelangelo referred to these doors as fit to be the “Gates of Paradise” and they are till this date referred to by this name. Michelangelo called “truly worthy to be the Gates of Paradise” for its remarkable beauty and grandeur.
The ten large richly decorated, separate panels on this door depict 3D scenes from the Old Testament. They depict God’s creation of Adam and Eve, Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac, and Moses on the mountain, receiving God’s commandments.
Details on Doors of Baptistery Florence Cathedral
Gothic south doors of the Baptistery were built in 1335 by Andrea Pisano.
Sculptors to build the north doors of Baptistery Florence were selected through a competition held in 1401.
Twenty two year old Lorenzo Ghiberti won the Florence Baptistery Doors competition. It is said that his model of the bas-relief bronze panel depicting his own vision of ‘The Sacrifice of Isaac’ weighed lesser than others and that gave him an advantage.
The original work of Lorenzo Ghiberti is preserved in the Bargello sculpture museum. The reliefs which are visible now on the doors of the Baptistery are copies. The originals, as well as the artists’ sketches and moulds, are displayed in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. What we get to see at the Baptistery are the replicas.
Ghiberti started work on the east doors in 1425.
There is a self-portrait of Ghiberti in the left door. Try finding it. Clue: it is the 4th head from the top of the middle strip. I have shared a pic of the door.
North and South Doors of Baptistery
The other doors have a grey-black finish and have twenty-eight reliefs, arranged in 7 rows. The frames of the reliefs are designed with foliage and fruit, animals, insects, lizards, and birds. The intersections of the frame work had a head that represents a male or female prophet. The reliefs show scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist and lower reliefs contain representations of virtues, such as Prudence and Fortitude.
If you are not hiring any guide it is best to take help of books. I had DK’s Florence and of course the Lonely Planet of Italy. DK’s eyewitness travel has good explanations and detailed pictures too. Unluckily for me I could not see the beautiful interiors of this 1000 year old building. It opens at 12.15pm and I had my tickets for Uffizi at the same time. I had to move on.
Read more:
3 Weeks Italy Road Trip Itinerary
Florence Cathedral Interior
Opening Time of Baptistery Florence
- Open on all days of the week.
- Monday to Saturday – 11.15 pm – 6.30 pm. Sunday – 8.30 am – 2 pm.
- Closed on: 1st Jan, Easter, 8th Sept and 25th Dec.
- Tickets for entrance to Baptistery Florence: 5Euros.
You will like these Doors of Europe
- Doors of the Archabbey Pannonhalma Hungary
- Central Door of Amiens Cathedral France
- Wolf’s Door Aachen Cathedral Germany
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I just found your beautiful, and informative posting . I am studying the painted panel of The Crucifixion by Fra Angelico and his inspiration of the Doors to the Baptistry in creating an arch, almost circular in his panel.
No wonder Michelangelo referred to these as fit to be the “Gates of Paradise!”
Mille Grazie , a thousand blessings!
Nicara
I love the image of the woman in front of the doo, so lively, good capture!
What beautiful work!!!! amazing!
Beautiful!! Something not seen, its amazing
Glorious doors! And sometimes, when you can't get in, you have a good reason to go back… 😀
I've been to Florence twice, but only for day long stops, on cruises and it's about 90 miles from Civetivecchia where the ships dock. So much time wasted in the commute. I wish I could have spent at least a week there.
Just home from a four day hospital stay, trying to catch up and, of course, overdoing things.
Ah – now I can comment.
These golden doors are exquisitely beautiful! Such amazing shots.
Utterly amazing! Your photos are excellent.
incredible workmanship on the door.
was trying to comment twice yesterday and couldn't find the this pop up page. 🙂
The doors are so very beautiful. Certainly doors like that are not build anymore. So, much art, thoughts and work went into the buildings to impress and show the might of the church.
A work of art! The "etchings" are so detailed.
From blogs I read about the pitfalls of vacations, it is worth spending time reading and researching.
What incredible beauty. Amazing artistry and workmanship. Thanks for sharing
An Arkies Musings
Intricate work on those doors.
I was at these very doors just a few weeks ago and took pictures. I marvel at the intricacy of your photos. The “door knob” area shows how detailed the designs were then. I would never have understood what I was looking at without a guide. As you know there are many fascinating doors in Italy, often with people standing in front of them getting their picture taken. 🙂
Gorgeous door, great detail!
the bronze panel is simply exquisite! don't you have more close-ups like the second photo posted here/?
I was eagerly waiting to see your pictures of the beautiful bronze doors !
Those amazing panels still linger in my memory. Lorenzo Ghiberti's work was really guided by Divine Inspiration, i'd say.
nice shots. love the intricate details.
That's a beautiful door. Love the designs on the door.
amazing!!
Wonder why they don't make things like these any more.
that is stunning! your posts from Italy are a feast to the eye. thank you!
thank goodness the originals are protected in the Museo!
great artwork… the last one shows so much details of the efforts gone into crafting the faces
Wow, incredible photos and post. What workmanship.