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Duomo, Baptistry and museums
The Duomo of Pisa was founded in 1064 and dedicated to S.Maria Maggiore, is a real architectural masterpiece of the Romanic period. The first project for the building was made by the architect Buscheto, who managed to modify the current stylistic forms through a completely innovative and autonomous language.
The cathedral is one of the finest of the Romanesque period and has a strongly marked singularity. According to the tradition, the construction of the Cathedral was financed by the spoils coming from the seizure of some Saracen ships in Palermo's port. To Buscheto (praised in an epigraph on the facade) we owe the inside division into five naves according to the early Christian model of the great Roman churches, enriched by the use of modern Romanic elements as the women's gallery overlooking the central nave and the roofing with groined vaults of the little naves (the central nave, originally covered by a trussed roof, has now a lacunar dating back to the end of the 16th century).
The use of very slender piers with an Islamic essence in the pointed curve arches that divide the side naves, the inside of the Cathedral is more similar to the shapes of a mosque rather than to those of an early Christian Basilica. The outside does not show the inside division into five naves: the piers allow the lifting of the mainstay of the groined vaults which are thus all on the same level and closed outside by a common slant of the roof.
Pisa's Cathedral was consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasio II, however its construction culminated only around the middle of the 12th century.
A few years after the consecration, the new architect Rainaldo realized some changes to the original plan: the front part of the building was lengthened with the addition of three spans in the central nave and a new façade was designed, which foresaw the inclusion (realised later) of the original motive of the overlapping loggias that was especially successful in the Romanic period in Tuscany (beside the resumption of this motive in the neighbouring buildings of the Baptistery and the Steeple, one should think about the façade of Saint Paul's Church in Ripa d'Arno, consecrated in 1148, and S. Michele in Foro Church in Lucca, which was begun in 1143, and S.Martino's Cathedral, made by Guidetto in 1204).
The circular Baptistery in Pisa is the largest of its kind in the whole of Italy, with a circumference of 104 metres / 348 feet. It was made up in 1152 by Deotisalvi. Its exterior architecture is a combination of styles, combining Tuscan-Romanesque stripes with Gothic statues. Inside the church, especially around the baptismal font, the style is decidedly Renaissance. The dome’s acoustics are among the best in the world. A choir singing in the baptistry can be heard up to 2km away. The vast interior is fairly plain and features one of the first great Pisano pulpits, sculpted in 1260 by Nicola Pisano and a massive, carved font. Many of the original statues and decorative pieces are now house in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and some have been replaced by casts. One of the most interesting features in the Baptistery is the simply astonishing acoustics, which echo around the interior. To enjoy these wonderful acoustics it is worth arriving early in the morning, before the building gets too busy. When a choir sings in the Pisa Baptistery it is memorable to say the least. There are stairs to the upper gallery and more stairs leading into the grand dome itself. Attraction open: April to September - 08:00 to 19:40, March and October - 09:00 to 17:40, November to February - 09:00 to 16:40.
On the south side of the Campo, the only gap in the souvenir stalls is for the Museo delle Sinopie (same hours as baptistry). After the damage caused on the Camposanto, restorers removed its sinopie (a sinopia is a monochrome sketch over which a fresco is painted). These great plates of plaster now hang from the walls of this hi-tech museum, but getting sense from them is a rather scholastic enterprise.
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