Step back in history as you listen to enchanting tales of the Baptistery including Ghiberti’s spectacular bronze doors known as “the Gates of Paradise,” and many other significant treasures. From the earliest times the Baptistery constituted the heart of city's spiritual life, used for centuries to baptize every Florentine child it served as a religious focus and a way of strengthening the allegiance of Florentine's to the city of their birth. It is beautiful to look at, both inside and out, a masterpiece of architecture whose beginnings date back to antiquity. The origins of the temple, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, are uncertain but according to local lore, there has been some sort of shrine on this spot since ancient Roman times. From its Romanesque sheathing of green and white marble to its Mannerist statuary, the Byzantine and medieval imprint of its mosaics, to the ambitious casting of its three spectacular sets of bronze doors, the Baptistery reflects Florence’s growth in art, from the dark ages through the Renaissance.