Baptistery

The body of water washed so strongly around the Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistery of St. John, 11th-12th century) in the Piazza del Duomo that the bronze doors broke open. The “Gates of Paradise” (1452) by Lorenzo Ghiberti, who had beaten the counterdraft for the north gate from the prominent architect Brunelleschi in a competition in 1401, lost five of its gilded bronze panels. These were not salvaged from the mud until the next day and were placed in the Museo dell´Opera del Duomo and in the Opificio delle Pietre Dure after their restoration. Protective gratings in front of the swing doors prevented two more panels by Andrea Pisano, illustrating the life of John the Baptist, being swept away from the south doors (1330).