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baptistery| In church architecture, a building or part of a church in which Christians perform the ceremony of baptism; also the pool used in Baptist churches for the total immersion of adults. |
Modern baptisteries In modern Anglican churches, a bay or corner at the back of the church, near the entrance, is often reserved for the purposes of baptism. A font is normally used for the baptism of babies. |
| In modern Baptist churches, the baptistery is a sunken bath with steps descending into it. It lies at the front of the church, usually in front of the communion table, which holds the Bible; Baptist churches have communion tables instead of altars. The pool is covered when not in use. |
Early baptisteries The most celebrated existing baptisteries are those of Rome, Ravenna, Florence, and Pisa, Italy. The most ancient is the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte, near the church of St John Lateran at Rome, commonly said to have been erected by Constantine the Great. The plan of this building is an octagon, with a small portico at the entrance; the interior is decorated with eight porphyry columns. The diameter of this structure is about 23 m/75 ft. |
| The baptistery of Florence, which is octangular, with a diameter of about 30 m/98 ft, stands opposite the principal entrance of the cathedral. The baptistery of Pisa, erected between the years 1152 and 1160 by Diotisalvi, is circular, with a diameter of 35.4 m/113 ft; the building is raised on three steps, and surmounted by a dome. |
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| The author then guides a pilgrim in a walk around the typical parts of the traditional Catholic church, explaining the role (and consequently the structure and place) of the altar, the altar rail, the baldachin, the baptistry, the confessional, the facade, the gallery, the lectern, the narthex, the nave, the portal, the pulpit, the reredos, the rose window, the sanctuary, the tabernacle, etc. Now, totally dependent on her use of morphemes, she spins from the ceiling of the Baptistry embarrassing the cloister nuns with a lust for her revealing lexicon: her enclitic suffix barely attached, her accusative inflections unwept and unproffered. The author begins by reminding us that the very essence of the Renaissance lay in the desire to revive and surpass classical antiquity, and she shows how fundamental competition was, starting with the contest sponsored by the Florentine civic authorities in 1401 for the commission for the Baptistry doors. |