The Baptistery of San Giovanni Battista - together with the Church of Santo Stefano and the Church of Santa Maria Assunta - is part of the religious complex in Domo, a hamlet of Porto Valtravaglia.
History of the Baptistery of San Giovanni Battista
The Baptistery of San Giovanni Battista is certainly the most fascinating and interesting monument in Domo.
Dating back to the Carolingian period, it is in front of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, between the old town hall of the now extinct municipality of Musadino and the 17th-century parish house.
The ancient origins of the baptistery (indicated by its construction) date back to a period between the 7th and 10th centuries, therefore prior to the first Romanesque examples. However, very little remains of the original structure due to the renovations over the centuries.
The structure of the Baptistery of San Giovanni Battista
The baptistery has a standard orthogonal layout. In fact, for the Fathers of the Church, the number 8 is a sort of symbolic paradigm referring to overcoming the body and soul, and therefore to transcendence.
The presence of the baptistery was naturally a symbol of great prestige for the Church of Santa Maria; indeed the catechumens are said to have taken their first steps towards salvation here. This structure played a very important religious role as it was the site of a very meaningful initiating event.
Although they have been renovated and rebuilt, the doors and windows of the Baptistery of San Giovanni were all positioned with a specific intention: to allow the catechumen to travel a symbolic path towards openings to the east and west.
The sole decorative element inside this mysterious and complex building is the series of little twinned blind columns (originally 16 – two for each side of the octagon).
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