4 May 2022

Royal Visitor Monsignor Francesco Vento

A document, dated 1542 and drawn up by the Royal Visitor Monsignor Francesco Vento, provides further information on the portico of the northern entrance, which was rebuilt due to its state of neglect. The same document also contains information on the state of preservation of the cathedral buildings...
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4 May 2022

Gates of Paradise

The bronze door, commissioned to the artist Bonanno Pisano, was fitted into an ancient portal made of cusped spolia marble, with four pointed rings. It is richly decorated with bands of figurative, geometric and abstract motifs in relief, as well as opus sectile inlays with star-shaped polygons. Bo...
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4 May 2022

Gates of Paradise

The bronze door, commissioned to the artist Bonanno Pisano, was fitted into an ancient portal made of cusped spolia marble, with four pointed rings. It is richly decorated with bands of figurative, geometric and abstract motifs in relief, as well as opus sectile inlays with star-shaped polygons. Bo...
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4 May 2022

ornate mosaics

The Gates of Paradise by Bonanno Pisano is inserted into an older portal with four pilasters that extend to form an ogival arch. This grandiose stone frame is decorated with bands of alternating geometric, symmetrical, floral and raceme motifs, small animal and human figures and delicate mosaic stri...
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4 May 2022

stems

The column is an architectural element, with vertical momentum, usually consisting of the base, the stem and the capital. The stem, in particular, is the middle part that performs the load-bearing function. It is also called the trunk of the column and, in its canonical form, tends to get narrow upw...
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4 May 2022

jambs

The Italian term "stipiti" derives from the Latin stipes, meaning trunk. The jambs define the sides of the portal. They take the form of the two vertical piers present in both doors and windows. ...
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4 May 2022

jambs

The Italian term "stipiti" derives from the Latin stipes, meaning trunk. The jambs define the sides of the portal. They take the form of the two vertical piers present in both doors and windows....
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4 May 2022

baptistery

The baptistery is the place used for baptism ceremonies. It could be a building annexed to the church, with a polygonal layout, since the early Christian church tended to separate the liturgical area where services were held, reserved for the baptised, from those who had not been baptised. The bapti...
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4 May 2022

baptistery

The baptistery is the place used for baptism ceremonies. It could be a building annexed to the church, with a polygonal layout, since the early Christian church tended to separate the liturgical area where services were held, reserved for the baptised, from those who had not been baptised. The bapti...
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4 May 2022

pilaster

From the Greek παραστάς, meaning “to place next to”, the pilaster is a vertically slender architectural element with load-bearing and static functions. Used in Roman times and then more widely used in the Renaissance period, it is a pillar that can be incorporated into the wall or slight...
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