The Pisa Baptistery of St. John ( it, Battistero di San Giovanni) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical building in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ci ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Construction started in 1152 to replace an older

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptism ...

, and when it was completed in 1363, it became the second building, in chronological order, in the

Piazza dei Miracoli The Piazza dei Miracoli (; en, Square of Miracles), formally known as Piazza del Duomo ( en, Cathedral Square), is a walled 8.87-hectare area located in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, recognized as an important centre of European medieval art and one of ...

, near the

Duomo di Pisa Pisa Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale Metropolitana Primaziale di Santa Maria Assunta; Duomo di Pisa) is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, the oldest of the ...

and the cathedral's free-standing

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tow ...

, the famous

Leaning Tower of Pisa The Leaning Tower of Pisa ( it, torre pendente di Pisa), or simply, the Tower of Pisa (''torre di Pisa'' ), is the ''campanile'', or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unst ...

. The baptistery was designed by

Diotisalvi Diotisalvi, also Deotisalvi or Deustesalvet, was an architect from Pisa, Italy, active in the 12th century in Pisa. Little is known of him. Career Baptistry of Pisa He is well known to be the original architect of the Baptistry of Pisa, in Pia ...

, whose signature can be read on two pillars inside the building, with the date 1153.

Description

The largest baptistery in Italy, it is 54.86 m high, with a diameter of 34.13 m. The Pisa Baptistery is an example of the transition from the Romanesque style to the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style: the lower section is in the Romanesque style, with rounded arches, while the upper sections are in the Gothic style, with pointed arches. The Baptistery is constructed of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

, as is common in Italian architecture. Toscana Pisa6 tango7174

The

portal Portal often refers to: *Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

, facing the facade of the cathedral, is flanked by two classical columns, while the inner jambs are executed in Byzantine style. The

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of ...

is divided in two tiers. The lower one depicts several episodes in the life of St. John the Baptist, while the upper one shows Christ between the

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

and St John the Baptist, flanked by angels and the evangelists. The interior is overwhelming and lacks decoration. The octagonal font at the centre dates from 1246 and was made by Guido Bigarelli da Como. The bronze sculpture of St. John the Baptist at the centre of the font is a work by

Italo Griselli Italo may refer to: *Italo-, a prefix indicating a relation to Italy or Italians Film * ''Italo'' (film), a 2014 comedy film *Italo crime, a genre of crime film Music genres *Italo disco *Italo dance *Italo house People *Italo Allodi (1928–1 ...

The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, acces ...

was sculpted between 1255-1260 by

Nicola Pisano Nicola Pisano (also called ''Niccolò Pisano'', ''Nicola de Apulia'' or ''Nicola Pisanus''; c. 1220/1225 – c. 1284) was an Italian sculptor whose work is noted for its classical Roman sculptural style. Pisano is sometimes considered to be the ...

, father of Giovanni, the artist who produced the pulpit in the Duomo. The scenes on the pulpit, and especially the classical form of the nude

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

, show Nicola Pisano's qualities as the most important precursor of Italian Renaissance sculpture by reinstating antique representations: surveys of the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

often begin with the year 1260, the year that Nicola Pisano dated this pulpit. Constructed on the same unstable sand as the tower and cathedral, the Baptistery leans 0.6 degrees toward the cathedral. Originally the shape of the Baptistery, according to the project by Diotisalvi, was different. It was perhaps similar to the church of

Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...

in Pisa, with its pyramidal roof. After the death of the architect, Nicola Pisano continued the work, changing the style to the more modern Gothic one. Also, an external roof was added giving the shape of a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, f ...

. As a side effect of the two roofs, the pyramidal inner one and the domed external one, the interior is acoustically perfect, making of that space a resonating chamber. The exterior of the dome is clad with lead sheets on its east side (facing the cathedral) and red tiles on its west side (facing the sea), giving a half grey and half red appearance from the south. An inscription, currently undeciphered, is located to the left of the door jamb of the Baptistery. Pasini, Daria. Ancora sull’epigrafe con triplice invocazione all’arcangelo Michele gain on the Epigraph with the Triple Invocation to the Archangel Michael ''GRADUS: Rivista di Archeologia e di Restauro'', 10, 1: 18-24, URL
Inscription
/ref> File:The Pisa Baptistery of St. John.jpg, The Pisa Baptistery File:Pisa Baptistry.jpg, The Pisa Baptistery File:義大利比薩多摩教堂等13 crop.jpg, View from north-east showing the two colours of the dome File:Interior of the Baptistry of St. John dome, Piazza dei Miracoli (-Square of Miracles-), Pisa, Tuscany, Central Italy-2.jpg, Baptistery columns File:Interior of the Baptistry of St. John dome, Piazza dei Miracoli (-Square of Miracles-), Pisa, Tuscany, Central Italy-3.jpg, Baptistery dome File:Pisa.Baptistery.font01.jpg, Baptistery font File:Toscana Pisa7 tango7174.jpg, Baptistery interior File:Pisa Baptistery interior fisheye view 01.jpg, A fisheye view of the interior File:Pisa Baptistry Resonance Demonstration.ogv, Acoustic resonance and reverberation demonstration

Description

See also

References

Further reading