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A indicates the main entrance of the building, which was towards the east, so that the catechumens made their solemn renunciations with their face turned towards the west, according to the ancient custom. In the centre of the edifice is a font of hexagonal form. The pavement of this basin is made of large slabs of Grecian marble. At the time these ruins were excavated, there were but two steps left, but it is probable that there had been three, in accordance with the usual number. To the right of the

Fig. 32. PLAN OF BAPTISTERY OF PESARO.

main door was discovered another baptismal font, with three steps to descend into it. At the bottom was found a large tube, made of lead, to carry off the water. This second basin was probably used for the baptism of the women, who, as we know, received the rite separately from the men. Martene says in his works (Opera, cap. i. et ii. No. 13), that the women "Separatim a viris sacro fonte immergebantur,"-" Were immersed in the sacred font apart from the men."

BAPTISTERY OF AQUILEJA.

The epoch in which this baptistery was erected is not known with certainty; but that this edifice is of great

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Fig. 33. SECTION OF BAPTISTERY OF AQUILEJA.

antiquity is evident from its rustic simplicity, the construction of the basin, which contains three steps all

around, and the ancient name this baptistery bore, that of Ecclesia Paganorum. The building was subsequently united to the more modern cathedral, built by Patriarch Poponius, in A.D. 1031.* A good plan of this baptistery (Fig. 33) may be seen in Bertoli's well-known work on the antiquities of Aquileja.† He says: "The diameter of the building is seventeen feet. The steps are made of flagstones, well joined together, and the remaining portion of the baptistery is covered with hard mortar. The bottom of the font, which is composed of internal and external steps, is made of one large stone, five feet in diameter, and in the centre is an outlet for the escape of the water after the baptismal function. Some years ago a large drain was discovered in the churchyard, lying in a straight line from the baptistery to the river, and is supposed to have served as a subterranean canal, which carried off the water of the font, and emptied it into the stream. The external height of the basin is two feet and nine inches, and its depth four feet and a half; so that a man standing in the font would have the water up to his neck. The church adjoining has a picture of baptism by immersion, which rite was practised for more than nine centuries." (Antichità d'Aquileja.)

BAPTISTERY OF NOVARA.

Opposite the great door of the Duomo, or Cathedral of Novara, opens the curious octagonal baptistery, supported, as is the case with almost all the very early edifices of the kind, by ancient columns; and hence the tradition, almost invariably annexed to these buildings, of their having been Pagan temples. These columns, of white marble, are

* Michael Lopez Dissert. su i Battist.

↑ Bertoli, Antichità d'Aquileja. De Rubeis, Mon. Eccl. Aquil.

fluted and of the Corinthian order, and have originally belonged to an edifice of a good Roman period.* In the centre of the octagonal basin is a circular Roman urn, bearing an inscription to Umbrena Polla which is as follows:

VMBRENAE

A. F. POLLAE
DOXA LIBERTA
T. F. I.

This sepulchral urn was formerly used for baptism by immersion. The large basin which contains it, and was undoubtedly the original baptismal font, is octagonal in form, and provided with three steps inside and an outlet for the escape of the water. It is about four feet deep and eight feet wide.

BAPTISTERY OF FLORENCE.

The building which is now the baptistery of Florence has been the subject of much discussion, having by some been considered to be the original temple of Mars; but Lami, in his Lezioni Toscane, has set this matter at rest by showing that, though the baptistery is almost entirely composed of antique pillars and marbles, yet, as these materials are irregularly put together, and as the capitals of the pillars are not the same, this building cannot be Roman work, and must have been constructed in subsequent times.

The exact time at which this edifice was constructed is unknown. That it was a finished building in A.D. 725 is clear from a letter of Speciosus, who was bishop of Florence at that time, and who speaks of it as his church. Originally this building was not the baptistery, but the

* Murray's Handbook for Northern Italy.
+ Racca, Del Duomo e del Battistero di Novara.

cathedral. It stood without the walls, but in those times it was not unusual for cathedrals to be so placed. In the thirteenth century, the citizens of Florence determined to have a cathedral on a larger scale, and when this was accomplished, St. John's became the baptistery.*

Fig. 34. PLAN OF BAPTISTERY AT FLORENCE.

Originally, like the Pantheon at Rome, this building was open at the top. It was secured from the weather+ in 1150, but the mosaics of the dome were not added till 1225.

This celebrated baptistery is an octagonal structure (Fig. 34), measuring about one hundred feet in diameter. It stands detached from, but in the immediate vicinity of the Duomo, or cathedral. It is built of black and white marble, in the style which Giotto is said to have introduced, and which is peculiar to Tuscany. Internally, a gallery, which runs nearly round the whole building,

* Knight, Church Architecture of Italy. Richa, Notiz. delle Chies. Fior. † Lami, Index Chronologicus.

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