then changed into a church. Even if it was not true, this tradition was really important, because it testified the ancient Roman origins of Florence were generally known. Florentines decided to build the Baptistery at the northeast side of the town because there were some Roman houses with running water and the baptism was by full immersion of people, so Florentines needed a lot of water to baptise people.
The first structure built was smaller than that one we can see today, but it had the same octagonal shape, because the octagon refers to the octava dies, the eighth day after the seven of a week on earth, so it refers to the eternity of our salvation.
The outside of the building is characterised by two types of marble put in geometrical shapes. The famous white marble is from Carrara, a town near the see, while the green one is from Prato, a town near Florence: so Florentines used the materials they had around the town to decor the facade. They put these two types of marbles in a geometrical shape that is called the Florentine Romanesque style, that characterized also the facade of the church of San Miniato al Monte in Florence.
The facade of the church of San Miniato al Monte in Florence
(source: http://www.firenze-online.com/visitare/informazioni-firenze.php?id=7)
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