Siena - part 4

Siena's baptistry was not on our list of things to see due to time constraints. However, since we ate a fairly quick lunch and the baptistry was part of the ticket package that we had we decided to go ahead and see it.

Siena's baptistry is not a separate building like the ones we saw in Florence and Ravenna. It is underneath the eastern side of the cathedral. But since it's so hilly in Siena the baptistry's front is completely above ground.

This picture is from inside the cathedral. This is a baptismal font. You can see a little hole in the wall behind it. That hole leads down to...

the baptistry below. You can see the opening above this much more ornate baptismal font. This font shows six scenes from the life of John the Baptist. The hole between the cathedral and the baptistry allowed people below to hear what was going on above. Or something like that.

And we found Sarah's gesture in the baptistry. It was in a dark corner cut off by a security rope so getting a good picture was impossible. We thought about distracting the guard so that Sarah could hop the rope, but it never happened.

The whole group went (actually, before we went to the baptistry) into the Palazzo Pubblico. We were lectured to by Gordon Moran in the Sala del Mappomondo (Great Council Hall). He told us about some art controversy and told us some corny jokes. Above is the Maesta by Simone Martini.

Like we saw in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, this palazzo had huge frescoes depicting famous battle scenes that they happen won.

Then we saw Lorenzetti's Allegory of Good Government...

and the results of good government...

and the Allegory of Bad Government.

I really love the image of bad government. I got yelled at by a guard for trying to take a picture in here. That picture didn't turn out well so I went ahead and took another one. It didn't turn out very well either. Serves me right for not following the rules. I think it looks like John Lovitz playing the devil in an old Saturday Night Live skit.

In my first Siena posting I mentioned that we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside of San Domenico. So I didn't. Well I lied. I took one. I snapped this picture then turned to take a picture of the head of Catherine of Siena. Sarah told me that we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. So I didn't take any more. For real this time.