Inside the San Giovanni in Corte Baptistery (Pistoia)

Hello hivers, an happy Wednesday to you all. ❤️ Today here it's a windy day and there are a lot of clouds on the sky, but this morning I had to go in the center of the city where I live (Pistoia, Italy) to buy some things and so I took the opportunity to visit a very interesting place in the main square to take some pics to share with you.

The San Giovanni in Corte Baptistery is open just in the morning and even if I went there many time in the past, this time (maybe because I wanted to show you many details) I feel myself like a tourist from another city and I could understand why many people love it.

Before to show you the things inside of it, you have to know this ancient building is around 723 years old, because was made in the 1303. It's a Gothic-style octagonal building and, as you can see in the following pic, the exterior is striped thanks marble of two different colors like many other ancient buildings in my city. The strips looks to be in black and white, but there are in dark green and white.

Inside, in a corner, there is a metal model of the Baptistery:

In the center of the building there is a wonderful square baptismal font large enough for a full body immersion in the ceremony. This was used centuries ago, before baptizing just after the birth became common as today. All around the sides of the font there are decorative panels with wonderful complex floral reliefs sculpted in the 1226 by Lanfranco da Como.

There is also a wonderful sculpture of St John the Baptist made in the 1724 by Andrea Vacca. It's very impressive how the artist made every details and my attention was focused on the legs that seems really realistic.

In a corner there is an ancient large (very large) painting of the coat of arms of the Rospigliosi family, who was a very rich family in my city centuries ago:

In front of the door, in a sort of large niche, there is the beautiful altar:

I hope you like this virtual tour inside our Baptistery. See ya soon and stay safe, Silvia

***If you like my artworks, you can find them on my online shops on
Artfinder ( https://www.artfinder.com/silviabeneforti#/), on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/vumap) and on my Patreon page too (https://www.patreon.com/silviabeneforti). If you are interested about my artworks, you can by my catalogue here:

US (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9S4VLQK) Italy (https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0C9S4VLQK) Uk (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C9S4VLQK) You can find it in different countries, you have just to search "silvia beneforti portfolio" on Amazon. ^^ ^^ ****