BAPTISTERY Gk.fiarrurrhpwv, bra pt ist(' rion, bathing-place). A place where baptism is ad ministered. A term used to designate a separate building, or the annex or part of the church used for that purpose, or even the baptismal font. As immersion was the method in use until the close of the Middle Ages, a large basin or tank and a separate building were required during all these centuries. In the Apostolic Age, it is true. con verts were usually baptized in the nearest run ning water, and this remained permissible for a long time—as in Charlemagne'; wholesale hap tism of the Saxons and in most early missionary work. But as early as the Second Century, Christian ritual required a separate building attached to an episcopal church for the eelehra Hon of the ceremony. for it was connected with the abjuration of error and the hearing of mass. Baptisteries were of a well-defined form: their prototypes are the f rigida rium in some of the smaller and private Roman baths, as at Pompeii and Stabia., which were circular rooms with a piscina or baptisterium in the centre; this cen tral tank, also called piscine by Christian writers, was usually octagonal in form in the baptisteries and entered by a descent of several steps (usually three) from the floor level. The earliest baptisteries preserved are in the Roman Catacombs (q.v.), supplied by natural springs, and these were used during the persecutions; the best known is that of the Catacomb of Pontianus (Third Century). In the Fourth Century, begin ning with Constantine, many large baptisteries were erected. As they were not allowed except in episcopal towns (and even there only one was al lowed, in connection with the cathedral church), as, besides, the rite of baptism was administered ordinarily only at certain seasons—Easter, Pen tecost, and Epiphany—the baptisteries had to be so large that several thousand persons might be baptized on each occasion. These baptisteries were concentric in form; that is, an octagon, either inscribed in a square or free-standing, or, more rarely, a rotunda. a blunt dross, or a hexa gon. They were placed close to the church and connected with it, sometimes in front of time atrium, either on its central axis (Parenzo), or to one side (Toreello). The main hall, with the piscina or foes in its centre, was usually pre ceded by a closed portico (Aquileia, Lateran), where the ceremony of the Confession of Faith took place, and contained an altar. often placed in a special apse, for services to follow the bap tism. The baptistery was, therefore, a church. It was commonly dedicated to Saint John the Bap tist. The baptismal basin itself was surrounded by a line of columns, sometimes connected by an architrave, between which hangings were drawn which concealed from the crowd the actual scene of baptism. Above this central section usually rose a dome of masonry or wood—eircular or polygonal. Around it was often an encircling aisle—somethnes two aisles—to accommodate the crowd. Early writers describe the magnificent decorations and furnishings of the baptisteries. That of Saint John Lateran is said to he by Con stantine, and is certainly not much later. It is an octagon, with an interior 00 feet wide, divided by eight columns into a centre and an ambu latory which is unique in being surmounted by a gallery. But in more unchanged condition is the contemporary (c.4•.0) baptistery of the Cathe dral of Ravenna, an octagon inscribed in a square, whose walls and dome are completely covered with a wonderful decoration of mosaics, stuccoes, and marble slabs, which is one of the most perfect specimens of Early Christian art. Somewhat later the Arian heretics built a bap tistery for themselves (e.500) in Ravenna, on a similar plan. Several ruined baptisteries have been found connected with the interesting churches of the ruined cities of Syria, all of them of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth centuries. That at
Kalat-Seman is unique. not only in its four porti coes and four chambers symmetrically grouped around it, but in being set beside a small bap tismal church, of basilica] form. Of circular baptisteries, the most important is that at Nocera (Fifth Century) in Southern Italy, mea.., nring 70 feet inner diameter, with a peculiar brick dome supported on fifteen pair of coupled columns and surrounded by a vaulted aisle. The Church of Saint Costanza,. in Rome, similar to this and by many still regarded as a bap tistery, was really the mausoleum of Constan tina, the (laughter of Constantine. The piscine at .Noce•a is unusually well preserved; it is 211 .feet wide and 5 feet deep, with two descending steps, a parapet with marble slabs, and eight surrounding columns for the hangings. Other interesting early examples are at Aquileia, Der seta and Mondjelera in Syria, Alhenga, Gra ve dona, and Sant' Aquilino, at Milan. Italy and the Orient alone have such early examples. The period of decline from the Seventh to the Tenth centuries shows few of any importance. France has two examples at Fr(sjus and Poitiers. In the Eleventh Century the revival of archi tecture in Europe led to the building of superb baptisteries in Italy, but not elsewhere. Every free Italian commune had in its main square the group of three great religious structures— cathedral, tower, baptistery. The three most im pressile of these groups are at Parma, Pisa, and Florence: others are at l'istoja, Novara, Cre mona, Verona, Lueca, Volterra, and Siena. Bap tisteries of this period—Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth centuries—are especially numerous in northern Italy; besides the above, there are others at Almenso, Casale Monferrato, Bologna (San Stefano), Ascoli, Serravalle, Asti, and many more, while the south is represented only by Buy° and Bari. Of all these baptisteries, that of Florence is the most noted for its internal decoration in mosaic and for its fine dome, its marble figured pavement. and its wonderful bronze doors by Andrea Pisano and Ghiberto. That of Pisa contains l'isano's famous pulpit. The Parma baptistery is entirely filled with contemporary frescoes and sculptures. All three are exquisitely finished on the exterior with different colored .marble incrustations, architectural details, and sculptures. In some cases the dome that surmounts the baptistery is allowed to show its outline on the exterior (Flor ence) ; in other cases a straight wall is continued from the base of the dome to a height that en tirely conceals it (Parma). The largest of these mediieval baptisteries far surpass the earlier ex amples in size, and could hold large congrega tions. Besides such separate structures, there were cases where a part of the church itself was used for baptism. either in the form of a project ing chapel or of one forming a part of the regu lar plan. Such chapels were usually near the en trance. opening either on the narthex GI v.) or on the interior. Such is the baptismal chapel opening out of the inner right-hand narthex at Saint. Dark's, Venice.
Before the Renaissance, however, the change in ritual from immersion to allusion and aspersion only made separate buildings unnecessary. The simpler rite could he performed in the church itself, and all that was required was a large holy-water vase. Renaissance artists executed many exquisite works of this sort during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries. These works had been preceded by large sculptured immersion basins, as at. San Frediano, Lucca, which had succeeded the simpler early tanks. See BAP TISM.