Baptistery of San Giovanni
Baptistery of San Giovanni is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Siena audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~45 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type religious
- Suggested visit ~45 min
- Siena Siena guide
About Baptistery of San Giovanni
Below the Cathedral apse, the Baptistery of San Giovanni (begun 1316) houses an extraordinary baptismal font, a collaborative masterpiece by Jacopo della Quercia, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and Donatello, representing the highest achievement of early 15th-century Italian sculpture.
The Baptistery of San Giovanni in Siena is situated below the apse of the Cathedral, reached by descending a staircase from the piazza in front of the Cathedral. Begun in 1316 but not completed until well into the fifteenth century, the building has a Gothic façade (unfinished) and a vaulted interior frescoed in the fifteenth century.
The centrepiece of the baptistery is the magnificent hexagonal baptismal font, created between 1417 and approximately 1430 through a collaboration of the greatest sculptors of the early fifteenth century. Jacopo della Quercia designed the overall structure and created several of the reliefs. Lorenzo Ghiberti contributed two gilded bronze relief panels: the Baptism of Christ and St John before Herod. Donatello contributed one relief panel, the Feast of Herod, a masterpiece of early Renaissance narrative sculpture, and two of the bronze figures of the Virtues that decorate the upper tier. The font represents a meeting point of different sculptural approaches at a pivotal moment in the development of Renaissance art.
Did you know? The Siena baptismal font represents the only known collaborative work between Donatello and Ghiberti, two artists whose rivalry over the Florentine Baptistery doors is famous, making the font a remarkable document of artistic competition and collaboration in the early Renaissance.
How long should you spend at Baptistery of San Giovanni?
Plan about ~45 min at Baptistery of San Giovanni. That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is Baptistery of San Giovanni worth visiting?
Baptistery of San Giovanni is one of the 20 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Siena, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Nearby stops in Siena
Hear the story of Baptistery of San Giovanni
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