Nothing could be more quaintly old and modest than the baptistery of Riez.
It is perhaps the most interesting Christian monument in Fréjus, a reminder of those early centuries when, in France as in Italy, the little baptistery was the popular form of Christian architectural expression.
Baptistery of Pisa, circular, of marble, with dome two hundred feet high, embellished with numerous columns, is a notable work of the twelfth century.
The baptistery adjoining has a dome 99 feet in diameter.
In this baptistery every child born in Florence of the Roman Catholic faith must by law be baptised.
The baptistery has as its chief glory the bronze doors executed by Ghiberti and Andrea Pisano, and which Michael Angelo said were worthy to be the gates of Paradise.
The next most celebrated church dedicated to St. John is the Baptistery at Florence, dedicated by the Princess Theodolunda about 589.
It was in coming out of the Baptistery that they met with an adventure which Amy could never quite forget.
A baptistery and a school were built close to the chapel about a century later, and this early foundation was the eldest daughter of Notre-Dame--the Paris Cathedral.
His work was largely in bronze, and the earlier gates of the Baptistery in Florence are by him.
Unquestionably, one of the greatest achievements in bronze of any age is the pair of gates by Lorenzo Ghiberti on the Baptistery in Florence.
The great silver altar in the Baptistery in Florence occupied nearly all the goldsmiths in that city.
The pavements at the Florentine Baptistery and at San Miniato are interesting examples of inlay in black and white marble.
The work on theBaptistery was done actually in situ, every cube being set directly in the plaster.
The most delightful little stumpy saints and sacred emblems may be found on the façade of St. Michele at Pavia, and also at Lucca, and on the Baptistery at Parma.
The Libel Pontificalis tells how Constantine built the Basilica of St. Agnese at the request of his daughter, and also a baptistery in the same place, where Constance was baptized, by Bishop Sylvester.
Matthew de Layens worked here; he built thebaptistery and perhaps, too, some of the side chapels, and designed a richly sculptured reredos for the Lady-Altar.
Her prison, it is said, was an upper chamber above the baptistery of the Church of Saint Gudule, in which it was at one time customary to detain suspicious characters.
I noticed in the Baptistery below the springing of the dome a frieze about 2 ft.
The adjacent Baptisteryis on the site of the Temple of Mars.
Another fine early Baptisteryis that at Nocera, which resembles that of Constantine in general plan and style.
Other interesting early Byzantine buildings are the Baptistery at Kalat-Seman and the church of S.
The earliest and also one of the finest existing examples is the Baptistery of Constantino that rises close to S.
The baptistery of Salona keeps--the great basilica must therefore have kept--under the shadow of the wall of the extended city, exactly as the Lateran basilica and baptistery do at Rome.
It is a round building supporting a miniature colonnade with a conical roof above, so that it looks more like a model of a baptistery than anything else.
But the Forojulian work is larger than the Aquileian, and we can hardly fancy that this last was really designed to be used for baptism; at all events there is a notable baptistery elsewhere.
Those who see Cividale before Aquileia may be reminded of the baptistery within the Templum Maximum.
Near the north-western corner of the eastern division of the city the foundation of a Christian baptistery has been uncovered.
The old map shows this last with a high roof or cupola, and then the range from the western baptistery to the great eastern apse must have been striking indeed.
Of the baptistery it is easy to study the plan, as the foundations and the bases of the columns, both of the building itself and the portico in front of it, are plainly to be seen.
In the same street are the remains of the little church of Sant' Ansano in Castelvecchio, which was possibly the first baptistery of Siena and of which there is documentary evidence as far back as the year 881.
The frescoes of the Baptistery for the most part belong to the middle of the fifteenth century.
This construction is very similar to the framework of such a dome as that of the Baptistery at Florence.
Near this, and in the same field, is the Baptistery of San Giovanni, built of pure white marble, and covered with so artificial a cupola, that the voice uttered under it seems to break out of a cloud.
When we reached Croyland we went into the Abbey Church, where the Bishop pointed out the baptistery used for immersion, and several curious epitaphs, one as late as 1729 asking prayers for the dead.
In 1400 the Gild of Cloth Merchants of Florence decided to make a thank-offering for the cessation of the plague; and the form which it took was a pair of bronze doors for the baptistery of the church of S.
The most splendid doors in the world are probably the bronze doors of the Baptistery at Florence.
The glories of the baptistery are many, but perhaps the most appealing of the external decorations are the reliefs of the bronze door, which Michael Angelo so greatly admired.
The baptistery and sacristy are very ornate in design.
The baptistery contains early mosaics, a monument of one of the Doges of Venice; and the stone upon which John the Baptist is stated to have been beheaded is kept here.
Now we know that the walls, through which we passed, were the same that the blood-thirsty, battling Lorenzo di Medici besieged in 1482; and that the ancient bronze font in the Baptistery was the work of Donatello.
For the last half dozen kilometres the road steadily improves until it becomes one of the best as it circles around that wonderful triumvirate of architectural splendours, the Duomo, the Baptistery and the tottering Torre.
The Baptistery itself, so full of unfulfilment, and with such a wealth, at present, of spare space, will be the ideal setting for my treasures.
There will be plenty of room for it in the Baptistery of San Lorenzo.
