Research on the Baptistery and Florence
1 – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Premise The following articles concern my research on the Florentine Baptistry. It is a complicated topic, and I relate here what I have to say about it. I do not claim to…
2 – Chatters from Behind the Fences
(continued) 6 – They Were not Barbarian Stormtroopers All of that made sense. Therefore, was I on the right track? Yes – actually no: I still had to…
3- The Temple Didn’t Wear Prada
(continued) 11 – The Project is a Person At this point a question bore asking: how were they able to manage such a complex construction at a work with multiple locations?…
A Spite of the Canons
The first hospital in Florence was named after St. John the Evangelist and was built between the Baptistery and the cathedral of Santa Reparata in 1040. To us it seems incredible…
A Wandering Zodiac
On the floor of the Baptistry, near the Gates of Paradise, two large square marble slabs inlaid with zodiacal and zoomorphic figures make a beautiful show of themselves. They are…
About Moses’ Horns
What does the Baptistery have to do with the famous question of the horns of Michelangelo’s Moses? Nothing, of course, but there’s a reflection on the choices of the…
According to the Books, not to the Stones
In many publications and internet pages we read that the Baptistery is the result of various transformations carried out since the early Middle Ages. But if one goes inside the…
Marbles, Plumbers and Shipping Agents
Two Roman marbles pique the curiosity of visitors to the Baptistry. One is a walled bas-relief on the southern façade of the scarsella, at the bottom, which depicts two scenes:…
Matters of Details
Arches of the apse, lantern capitals with spindles, Roman mosaic floors, walls in false, structural connection in the attics: in the Baptistery many details deserve an…
Recycling a Monument
The construction of the Temple of Mars must have been promoted by Stilicho soon after his victory against Radagaisus: let’s say around October-November of 406, while its…
The Baptistery Umbrella
“In the year of Christ 1150, the ‘capannuccio’ (little hut ) raised on columns was made”, wrote the chronicler Giovanni Villani in the first half of the…
The Hidden Geometries
More than from laboratory tests on samples of materials, always subject to doubts of all kinds, we can understand if the Baptistery is Romanesque or not by making a simple…
The Meridian Doesn’t Work
The most beautiful doormat in the history of art is on the floor of the Baptistry, near the north door. It is a marble slab that has been trampled on for centuries without any…
The Rediscovered Column
The column with the statue of Plenty today called Colonna dell’Abbondanza or formerly Colonna della Dovizia (Column of Abundance), which stands in the center of Florence,…
Vultures in the Gallery
As is the case throughout the entirety of the Baptistry, it is not even known when the unusual paintings that decorate the walls of the gallery were painted, or by whom.…
What Stood in the Center of the Baptistry?
What stood above the foundations found in the center of the Baptistery, where we see an area of the floor devoid of marbles? The prevailing interpretation is that there was a…
When in Florence Greek was Spoken – 1
This text is about a research I started many years ago and still haven’t finished. Indeed, it is probably impossible to finish it because it is very complicated and the…