The three massive sets of
doors from the Florence Baptistery, which had been separated for
nearly 30 years for restoration work, are now back together at
the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, the vestry in
which the Duomo, the Cupola del Brunelleschi, the Campanile di
Giotto, and the Baptistery take part.
The bronze masterpieces measure about 5 metres tall and 3
metres wide, and were made between 1330 and 1452.
Starting December 9, visitors can admire the doors next to
each other in the museum's Sala del Paradiso, the same place
that already held the two sets of doors made by Lorenzo
Ghiberti, the north and east doors.
The east doors, which are the more recent and more famous of
the sets, are known as the Gates of Paradise and were allegedly
given their name by Michelangelo due to their beauty.
Now the south doors, the oldest of the three, have also
arrived.
Those doors were made by Andrea Pisano, a student and
collaborator of Giotto.
The restoration work on the south doors, like that for the
other two sets, was performed by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure
in Florence.
The 1.5-million-euro cost of the restoration was financed by
the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore.
The return of the south doors marks the completion of a
restoration project that began in 1978, when the first work
started on the Gates of Paradise - finished only in 2012, due to
its complexity - the first to be removed from its original
location in 1990.
Restoration on the south doors took three years, the same as
for the north doors, to bring back to light what remained of its
beautiful gilding.
In the lower section, for example, some areas of gilding had
been worn down by contact with hands over time.
In addition, the restoration brought back marvelous details
in the sculptural areas made with such passionate care that they
almost seem like a prayer.
The recently restored set of doors was created by Pisano
between 1330 and 1336.
They are made up of 28 panels, 20 of which depict scenes from
the life of St. John the Baptist and eight with emblematic
figures, interspersed with 74 friezes.
There are also 48 lions' heads, the symbol of Florence, one
of which was lost in the 1966 flood, which severely damaged the
three sets of doors of the Baptistery, which Dante
affectionately referred to in his Divine Comedy as "my beautiful
Saint John".
After Pisano completed the south set of doors, he was
entrusted with the most important Florentine sculptures of the
century.
Following Giotto's death, he was charged with continuing the
works on the Campanile, where, with the help of his
collaborators, he completed eight of the large statues and 48 of
the 52 reliefs.
The originals of those are also on display at the Museo
dell'Opera.
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