Basilica San Marco: Baptistery

The Baptistery of the Basilica San Marco was once known as the giesa dei puti, the church of the children.

The Baptistery is now entered from the basilica, but the original entrance was from the piazzetta. It is subdivided into three spaces, which would have been better appreciated from the original entrance. The first space is the antechamber, where catechumens awaited the ritual of baptism. The Gothic tomb in this space belongs to Doge Giovanni Soranzo (r. 1312-28). The following two spaces are the baptistery proper and the presbytery. 

The Baptistery is the burial place of Doge Andrea Dandolo (r. 1343-54). He can be seen genuflecting in the mosaic of the Crucifixion on the end wall. When Dandolo elected to be buried there, he commissioned the replacement of the existing frescoes with mosaics. The mosaics illustrate the life of Saint John the Baptist and the early life of Christ. 

The sarcophagus in which Doge Andrea Dandolo is interred is the work of Giovanni de' Santi. Dandolo was the last doge to be buried in the basilica.

The bronze baptismal font (c. 1545) is a later addition, the work of Jacopo Sansovino, who is also buried in the Baptistery. In the dome above Jesus sends the apostles into the world to preach and baptise. 

In the smaller dome above the presbytery is a mosaic of Christ in Glory.  

Baptistery

The Beheading and Entombment of Saint John the Baptist