Baptistry doors

Across the street from the Duomo in Florence, Italy, is the baptistry. It's an octagonal building, completed in stages over the course of many centuries. The east entrance door is graced by Ghiberti's 15th century gilded bronze work often called the "Gates of Paradise." Most of the ten panels depict biblical scenes. Ghiberti worked on these doors from 1425-1452--that's 28 years. (He had previously worked from 1403-1424 on the north doors.) So significant is this work on these east doors, especially in their use of perspective, that they are sometimes labeled as the "dawn of the Renaissance."

Two sets of doors. Fifty years of work. Perhaps, if our work is to have any long-lasting significance, we should do less and go slower!

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