The Baptistery and the Gates of Paradise
The bronze doors that Michelangelo said were worthy of Paradise
The octagonal Baptistery of San Giovanni, clad in white and green marble, is one of the oldest buildings in Florence. Dante was baptised here, and inside a vast thirteenth century mosaic of the Last Judgement covers the dome in gold.
Its three bronze doors tell the story of Florentine art. The most famous, facing the cathedral, is the east door by Lorenzo Ghiberti, which took him 27 years: ten gilded panels of Old Testament scenes with a sense of perspective never seen before. According to tradition, Michelangelo called it the "Gate of Paradise".
Tip: the doors on the building are copies; the originals, restored, are in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, where you can see them up close at eye level.
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