The Pisa Baptistery of St. John ( it, Battistero di San Giovanni) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical building in
Pisa,
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 baptismal ...
, 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 t ...
and the cathedral's free-standing
campanile, 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, 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
Italy has a very broad and diverse architectural style, which cannot be simply classified by period or region, due to Italy's division into various small states until 1861. This has created a highly diverse and eclectic range in architectural des ...
.
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 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 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 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 Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...
, 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
Italian Renaissance sculpture was an important part of the art of the Italian Renaissance, in the early stages arguably representing the leading edge. The example of Ancient Roman sculpture hung very heavily over it, both in terms of style and t ...
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 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, fro ...
. 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
See also
* History of medieval Arabic and Western European domes
The early domes of the Middle Ages, particularly in those areas recently under Byzantine control, were an extension of earlier Roman architecture. The domed church architecture of Italy from the sixth to the eighth centuries followed that of the ...
* List of tallest domes
This is a list of the tallest domes in the world. The dome can be measured by various criteria. There are different types of domes. Many of the tallest domes have a Roof lantern, lantern. Strictly speaking, the lantern is not part of the dome, b ...
References
Further reading
Rory Carroll, "Pisa Baptistery is giant musical instrument, computers show,"
*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
*Perono Cacciafoco, Francesco. The Undeciphered Inscription of the Baptistery of Pisa. ''Academia Letters'', 3359: 1-6, DOI: https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3359
{{Authority control
Churches completed in 1363
Pisa
Roman Catholic churches in Pisa
Church buildings with domes
Romanesque architecture in Pisa
Buildings and structures of the Catholic Church in Europe
14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy