Baptistery
Baptistery (codz. 10.00-18.00), usually dated to the 6th or 7th century, is the oldest building in the city. But though its roots are deep in the dark ages, no other structure in the city better illustrates the link between Florence and the Roman world. The Florentines were always aware of their Roman ancestry and believed throughout the Middle Ages, that the baptistery was originally a Roman temple to Mars, and this belief was strengthened by the presence of Roman granite columns in the interior. Ornamentation of the marble lining - located in the 11th and 12th centuries. - is undoubtedly inspired classically, and the most famous ornaments in the baptistery - gilded bronze doors - mark the beginning of an era of conscious interest in the art of the ancient world.
South door, facing the duomo, were cast in 1336 r. by Andrea Pisano. W 1401 r. there was a competition for the construction of a new pair of doors, in which each participant was to make a quarters depicting the sacrifice of Isaac. The work of Lorenzo Ghiberti won, you can watch, with a composition by Brunelleschi, w Bargello. Ghiberti's north door, showing scenes from the life of Christ, four Evangelists and four Doctors of the Church, they are characterized by a new naturalism and a classic sense of harmony, but their novelty is somewhat subdued compared to the great east door, which Michelangelo said were "so beautiful, that they would be worthy of serving as a door to Paradise ". These Old Testament scenes, unprecedented in the subtleties of modeling, are a kind of primer of early Renaissance art., using perspective, gesture and sophisticated grouping of figures to convey the human drama of each scene. On the doorframe on the left side, Ghiberti placed a self-portrait - the fourth head from the top in the right lane. The quarters are successively renovated and handed over to the Museo delFOpera after completion; upon completion of the work, a set of replicas will be placed here.
The interior is just as amazing. Both the semi-abstract mosaic floor and the magnificent mosaic ceiling - including the platoon of terrible demons at the feet of the judging Christ - were created in the thirteenth century.. To the right of the altar is the tomb of John XXIII, schismatic pope, who died in Florence in 1419 r. staying with his financial advisor and close friend, Giovanniego di Bicci de'Medici. Funerary monument, shaded by an illusionist marble canopy, is the work of Donatello and Michelozzo.
Museum of’0pear of the Duomo
From the beginning of the 15th century. the cathedral's administration was managed from the building in Piazza del Duomo 9, behind the eastern end of the church; today it houses the Museo delPOpcra del Duomo (summer Mon-Sat. 9.00-20.00, nd. 10.00-13.00; in winter, Mon-Sat. 9.00-18.00, nd. 10.00-13.00; 3000 L; nd. Free entrance), a repository of the most valuable and most easily destroyed works of art from the duomo, baptistery and campanile. As an overview of Florentine sculpture, the museum is second only to Bargello, and it is much easier to view them in one visit.
The most eye-catching works in the first room are a series of sculptures by Arnolf di Cambio, including Madonna with glassy eyes, which were removed from the facade of the duomo, which was not completed by Arnolf, demolished in the 16th century. The adjoining rooms are dedicated to Brunelleschi and contain his death mask, vault models and a number of tools and machines designed by the architect. At the far end of the main hall, there are stairs leading to the exhibition of competition models of the cathedral's vault and a collection of reliquaries, whose pride is the jaw of St.. Jerome and the index finger of St.. John the Baptist.
On the mezzanine is Michelangelo's angular Pietà, full of despair, moved here during the renovation of the vault. This is one of the artist's last jobs, which was to decorate his own grave, Vasari noted, that Nicodemus' face is a self-portrait. Dissatisfied with the quality of the marble, Michelangelo disfigured the group by degreasing Christ's left leg and arm; his apprentice, Tiberio Calcagni, brought his arm back, and then finished the figure of Magdalena, turning her into an absent-minded stat.
Michelangelo's greatest competitors, Donatello, it is indeed represented at the bottom as well, but only on the upper floor does it come to the fore. Of the figures carved for the campanile, the prophet Habakkuk is the most poignant, which the intensity of the gaze supposedly caused, that the artist himself shook the sculpture and exclaimed: "Speak!”. The opposing poles of Donatello's temperament are represented on the one hand by the emaciated wooden figure of Mary Magdalene, and on the other by an ornate cantoria (singing tribune) w cathedral, with dancing putti in the background. Opposite is a cantoria created in the same period by Luca della Robbia, whose original quarters are displayed below the reconstructed gallery; beautiful groups of young singers excited in their role are illustrated by the text of the Psalm 33 written on the doorframe: “Thank the Lord on the lyre! Play him a ten-string harp!”.
Pisan bas-reliefs from the campaniles are displayed in one of the two adjoining rooms: in the second one there are four quarters of Ghiberti's "Doors of Paradise" and a dazzling silver-plated altar from the baptistery, completed in 1480 r., over a hundred years after starting.