BAPTISTERY. 



BAPTISTS. 



6, 16). Baptisteries were afterwards erected on a large scale, for the 

 purpose of receiving a great number of individuals. 



These baptisteries were originally in most cases placed at the west 

 cud of the basilicas to which they belonged ; but afterwards were 

 attached to or included in the churches. The form is, for the most 

 part, hexagonal or circular ; and it is very probable that the form of 

 these buildings was imitated from some apartment in a Roman bath. 

 [See BATH ; and the plan of a Roman bath discovered at Bologna, 

 cap. vi. of Cameron's ' Roman Baths ; ' and the Church of Santa Maria 

 Maggiore, near Nocera, formerly a Roman bath ; and especially the 

 vignette at the commencement of the same work.] 



The most celebrated existing baptisteries are those of Rome, Florence, 

 and Pisa ; the most ancient is the baptistery of S. Giovanni in Fonte, 

 near the church of S. Giovanni Laterano, at Rome, commonly said to 

 have been erected by Constantino the Great. The plan of this building 

 is an octagon, with a small portico at the entrance ; the interior is 

 decorated with eight beautiful porphyry columns, the finest of the 

 kind in Rome. These columns, unequal in diameter, support an archi- 

 trave, over which eight small white marble columns are placed ; above 

 this second order there is an attic decorated with pilasters, and this is 

 crowned with a dome. The walls are adorned with frescos, consisting 

 of subjects from the Gospel and the principal events of the reign of 

 Constantine. In the centre of the building is an octangular basin, 

 three feet deep, lined and paved with marble. A modern font now 

 stands in the centre of this basin, raised on steps of marble. The 

 internal diameter of this structure is about sixty-five feet; and it 

 appears to have been constructed with the materials of other buildings. 

 Eustace calls this structure a chapel, and informs us that in it " only, 

 and upon the eves of Easter and Pentecost, was public baptism ad- 

 ministered in Rome ; many magnificent ceremonies, which occupied 

 the whole night, accompanied this solemnity." (Eustace's 'Class. Tour,' 

 voL i. p. 337.) 



The Baptistery of Florence, which is also octangular, with a diameter 

 of about one hundred feet, according to the plan in the ' Metropolitana 

 Fiorentina,' stands opposite to the principal entrance of the cathedral. 

 The date of its first construction is unknown ; the Florentines pretend 

 that it was originally a temple to Mars. In the internal arrangement, 

 sixteen large granite columns are employed to support a gallery, which 

 is carried nearly all round the interior ; the vaulting is decorated with 

 mosaics, by Andrea Tafi, the scholar of Cimabue ; on the pavement is 

 a large circle of copper, with numerical figures and signs of the zodiac 

 upon it ; and in the centre of this was originally a very fine octagonal 

 basin. The external facades are built of black and white marble, and 

 designed in that peculiar style of Florentine architecture of which 

 Giotto was the father. Possibly this edifice may have been erected 

 after his designs. The three great bronze doors are celebrated for the 

 beauty of their bas-reliefs, and for the marble and bronze figures above 

 them. The valves of the doors are divided into panels, on which are 

 represented the principal events of the life of St. John " the cardinal 

 and theological virtues," and subjects from the Old and New Testament ; 

 and so important was the subject considered, that Nicolo da Uzzano 

 and Lionardo d'Arezzo were engaged to select subjects for the sculptor. 

 The most celebrated of these doors was made by Lorenzo Ghiberti, in 

 1330, and in after times eulogised by Michael Angelo in the highest 

 style of panegyric. (See thirty-four engravings of ' La Terza Porta di 

 S;m Giovanni di Firenze,' Firenze, 1773, in small folio, in the British 

 Museum.) Another was made under Ghiberti's direction, assisted by 

 many other artificers. Fifty years were employed in making and 

 completing them. (See the work quoted above, in which are also 

 published the contracts for their execution.) The most ancient was 

 made by Andrea of Pisa. 



The Baptistery of Pisa, erected between the years 1152 and 1160, 

 by lliotisalvi, is of a singular design. The plan is circular, with a 

 diameter of 116 feet ; the walls are eight feet thick ; the building is 

 raised on three steps, and surmounted with a dome in the shape of 

 a pear. The external elevation is divided into three stories : in the 

 basement the columns, twenty in number, are engaged, and have 

 arches springing from column to column, with a bold cornice above"; 

 in the first story the columns are smaller, stand out in relief, and 

 are placed closer together ; and the order is surmounted with pinnacles 

 and high pediments, placed at equal distances : the terminations of 

 these parts are crowned with statues. Above this is an attic story, 

 decorated with other high pediments, pinnacles, and statues. The 

 il'iinc, which is covered with lead, is intersected by long lines of very 

 prominent fretwork : all thu lines meet in a little cornice near the 

 top, and terminate in another dome, above which is a statue of St. 

 John. The interior is much admired for its proportions : eight granite 

 columns, placed between four piers decorated with pilasters, are 

 arranged round the basement story ; above this is a second order of 

 piers, arranged in a similar manner, on which the dome rests, which 

 19 famous for its echo, as the sides produce the well-known effect of 

 whiMpering-galleries. In the plan drawn by J. and F. de Milanis, pre- 

 served in the British Museum, columns are not shown in the interior. 

 In the middle of the baptistery is a large octagonal basin of marble, 

 raised on three steps. Within the basin there are four circular places 

 hollowed out for water, and round the centre of the basin, which is 

 occupied by a pedestal, is a place likewise hollowed out for the priest, 

 who was thus enabled to turn from one basin to the other. By this 



means confusion was prevented, which would otherwise have occurred 

 from the crowd pressing to one side of the font only. The city of 



Geometrical elevation of the Baptistery of Pisa, from an elevation by 

 J. and F. Milanis. 



Scale 



50 



100 feet. 



Ravenna and the episcopal cities of Tuscany have also their baptist- 

 eries. There are some interesting baptisteries in Germany ; in France 

 and England remains of baptisteries are rare and seldom of much 

 importance. 



The largest known baptistery ever erected was that belonging to the 

 church of Santa Sophia at Constantinople, which is said to have been 

 so spacious as to have once served for the habitation of the Emperor 

 Basilicus ; and in it also a very numerous body of persons once 

 assembled in council. 



The multangular edifices placed at the sides of cathedrals, which are 

 called chapter-houses, are very similar in plan to the ancient bap- 

 tistery. It is possible that they were originally used for that purpose. 



Church and Cathedral at Ely.') The baptismal font [FONT] is not 

 synonymous with baptistery ; but should be applied only to the large 

 stone vessel placed in the centre of the baptistery. At the close of the 

 6th century, the baptismal fonts belonging to baptisteries began to be 

 placed in churches. At a font placed in a church the French King Clovi;* 

 received baptism at the hands of St. Remis, archbishop of Rheims. 



The baths in the English Baptist meeting-houses which are used for 

 baptism are called baptisteries. They are not invariably in the places 

 of worship. 



(Montfaucon's Monument! Franfois, vol. i. ; Eustace's Classical Tour ; 

 Ristretto delle Cose le piti, notablli di Firenze, <kc. ; Cameron's Rinnan 

 llathi ; La Metropolitans Fiorentina ; La Terza Porta di S. Giovanni ill 

 F'n-i a :e, small folio ; Nolli's Plan of Rome ; and the Plan and Elevation 

 of the Baptistery at Pisa, by J. and F. de Milanis : the two last are 

 in the King's Library in the British Museum. Plans, sections, and 

 elevations of this building are given in Messrs. Taylor and Cressy's 

 Architecture of tlte Middle Ayes in Italy.) 



BAPTISTS, a religious sect, and, in England, one part of the body 

 known by the general name of the Three Denominations of Protestant 

 Dissenters. As the name implies, they hold peculiar views on the sub- 

 ject of baptism, maintaining that this Christian rite ought to be 

 administered by immersion, and not by sprinkling, at such an age 

 that the ordinance can be regarded as the profession of the baptised 

 person's own faith, and not in infancy. Such, they believe, w;i the 

 practice of the apostolic times. In vindication of their mode of per- 

 forming the ordinance, they lay great stress on the original word 

 which signifies, as they contend, nothing but immersion. 



