In the heart of the Renaissance city, is the Baptistery of St. John which may very well be the oldest structure in the city. Originally an ancient Roman temple to the gods, it was converted into a Christian building in the middle of the 11th century AD.
The golden doors face the cathedral and were opened after a baptism to provide entrance to the cathedral to the newly baptized. In the Middle Ages, those that were not baptized, were not permitted to enter a cathedral, so they considered the space between the Baptistery and the cathedral to be the path to paradise.
The cathedral is to the left of the Baptistery.
The cathedral contains multiple domes for the chapels within it on either side.
The exterior of the cathedral was decorated with three colors of marble in the mid-19th century when Florence was named the temporary capital city of the newly formed country of Italy while the country worked to separate the Italian and Vatican controlled parts of the city of Rome.
In addition to the three marble colors, there are mosaic scenes over the entrances.
The bell tower was built later and was not attached to the rest of the cathedral.
The final dome was installed long after this portion of the cathedral was completed. The technology to create a dome this size did not exist and the roof was left open until it was determined that the dome could be completed with a double layer process with a small inner dome as well at the outer dome. It was built with bricks one ring at a time and built in place. This was dangerous as the workers built the dome without any scaffolding by hand placing the bricks one on top of the other with each ring slightly smaller than the one below it.
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