so the dome is so shining and so awesome.
The mosaics were designed by Florentines artists, such as Cimabue or Coppo di Marcovaldo, but Florence didn’t have a tradition of mosaics, so artists from Venice were called to realize the decoration of the dome, and they did it between 1270 and 1340.
As we move, we can see how the surface of the dome shines from all the points of view: it depends from the fact that all the tessere are put on the surface with different angles, so that the light can shine on the surface from all the points.
Looking at the subjects represented on the mosaics, we can see that immediately over the apse there is the big figure of Christ (he is more than eight meter high!). At his sides there are two sections devided into three registers. In the upper register there are angels with the symbols of Christ’s Passion; in the second register there are the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist immediately next to Christ, and the Apostols sitting with twelve angels behind them; in the third register on the left there is the representation of Heaven (the Elects, raised from their tombs, are letting get inside a door, representing the gate of Heaven, from an angel, while inside Paradise there are the three major Patriarchs sitting on their thrones) while on the right there is the representation of Hell (Lucifer, in the middle of the composition, is devouring the Damned). So, there is the representation of the Last Judgment at the end of time, when Christ will come on earth again to judge all people.
The beautiful dome of the Baptistery, decoreted with mosaics
(source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/
Florence_baptistery_ceiling_mosaic_7247px.jpg)
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