Piazza del Duomo is located in the heart of the historic center of Florence, and is one of the most visited place in the Europe and the world

Here, in the heart of Florence, we find the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore with the Cupola del Brunelleschi, the Giotto's Campanile, and the octagonal Baptistery

The three huge doors of the Cathedral date from 1899 to 1903. They are adorned with scenes from the life of the Madonna

the bronze doors of the Duomo and of St. John Baptistery are really precious jewelry

The oldest of the Cathedral Square religious structures, the Baptistery and it's fabled bronze doors were the key to the renewal of the arts and sciences which began in Florence in the year 1400.

Three magnificent bronze doors enrich this stunning building, covered with white and green marble. The oldest doors are those on the south side, they depict the life of Saint John and were fashioned by Andrea Pisano in the 1330s.

The north doors, executed between 1402-1425 by Lorenzo Ghiberti portray the life of Christ with scenes from the Old Testament, executed by Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425-1450

Ghiberti's eastern gold-gilded doors, which face the façade of the Duomo are perhaps better known as “The Gates of Paradise”, nicknamed by Michelangelo later in the century who thought they were so beautiful they could be the gates to Heaven.

It took years for Ghiberti to complete the doors, who began them as a young man after being selected over artists such as Donatello and Filippo Brunelleschi.

The doors were finally completed in 1452, when Ghiberti was seventy-four years old, just a few years before his death.

Ghiberti's doors are often considered one of the most influential works of the Renaissance. Ghiberti used many different techniques including ancient Roman lost-wax casting techniques, etching and use of Donatello's relief sculpture techniques – with a great use of perspective, forms in the background are barely etched into the bronze, while figures in the foreground are fully rendered, seemingly coming out at you. Many of the panels have a narrative content where several different scenes from the same story take place throughout the background, midground and foreground of the panels, a very popular technique of story-telling in Renaissance art.

Ghiberti left a small signature in one of the twenty-four heads carved into roundels – one of them, around eye level, is his self-portrait together with some other family portraits.

Giorgio Vasari decided the doors were “undeniably perfect in every way and must rank as the finest masterpiece ever created.”

When the disastrous flood of 1966 swept five of the heavy, original bronze panels off the door frames, measures were taken to restore the doors and replace the originals, which were still on the Baptistery all these centuries. They can now be found in the collection of the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, behind the cathedral.

Sound: Aurlian-Octav Popa - Peştera (Martian Negrea)

Text: Internet

Pictures: Daniela Iacob

Arangement: Sanda Foişoreanu