Chapter 1672： Heaven's gate

After admiring the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore for a while, Ye Tian and the others turned their heads and looked at Giotto's Bell Tower next to the cathedral.

Like the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, this is also a very famous historical building, one of Florence's landmarks.

Different from the Renaissance style of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Bell Tower of Giotto is a Gothic style building, which is rare in Italy, and it is a typical representative of Gothic architecture in Italy.

Giotto’s Bell Tower, built in 1384, was designed and constructed by the famous architect Giotto, who was also a muralist at the same time as the poet Dante. This ancient bell tower was named after it.

This Gothic clock tower has the appearance of a quadrangular columnar tower. The three colors of pink, dark green and cream are combined in a geometrical color scheme. It looks very beautiful!

Although it is a different architectural style, its appearance and color are very harmonious with the Cathedral of Our Lady of Flowers next to it.

The bottom of Giotto’s bell tower is decorated with exquisite reliefs. Most of the carvings come from biblical stories. There are stairs to the top, and there are 290 stairs.

This bell tower is about 84 meters high and about 14 meters square. This is rare in medieval church buildings, and it is unique in Italy, which was not yet unified at the time.

Looking over Giotto's Bell Tower, Ye Tian and the others saw another very famous historical building.

That is the San Giovanni Chapel, also called the Baptistery. It is an octagonal church in which Giovanni, the patron saint of Florence, is named after it.

As early as the 7th century AD, this famous church was built and it is the most typical representative of Romanesque architecture in Tuscany, the ‘Capital of Gorge’.

The most dazzling part of this church is the three-sided bronze gate decorated with gold reliefs, which is carved with patterns based on the stories of the Old Testament of the Bible. It is magnificent and dazzling!

Of course, the three-sided bronze gate now presented to visitors, the gold embossed on it is no longer the original, but a copy of the original, and the material is no longer gold, but bronze gilded!

At first glance, the three-sided bronze gate is no different from the original appearance. All the details of the gold relief are exactly the same. The reproduction is perfect, and ordinary tourists can't see it.

As for the original gold reliefs inlaid on the three-sided bronze gates, they have long been removed by the Florentine authorities and displayed in the museum of the cathedral for people to visit and admire.

Although the subject matter of the carvings on the three-sided gold embossed doors comes from the Bible, the content they express is different and come from different masters.

On the golden relief door on the south side of the church, there are 28 patterns carved with the theme of the story of John’s mission, which came from the hand of the carving artist Andre Pisano in the early 14th century.

On the golden relief door on the north side, 28 patterns are also carved with the theme of the life of Christ and the deeds of his 12 disciples, which were created by the artist Ghiberti in the early 15th century.

Compared with the gold embossed gates on the north and south sides, the east gate of the Baptistery of San Giovanni is more famous.

On the golden relief gate on the east side, the artist Ghiberti used Gothic expressions to tell people ten sets of stories from the Old Testament with ten beautiful pictures.

Beginning in 1425, Ghiberti took 27 years to complete this great sculpture until 1452.

This group of gold reliefs immediately caused a huge sensation as soon as it appeared, and became one of the most famous sculpture masterpieces of the Renaissance.

Because of the vividness and exquisiteness of this set of golden reliefs, and the ten sets of stories in the Old Testament it reflected, the later master sculptor Michelangelo even called this gate the "gate of heaven".

Passed by word of mouth by Michelangelo and other top art masters of the time, the name "Gate of Heaven" spread quickly and gradually became another name for the east gate.

Later, people simply engraved the four characters ‘Gate of Paradise’ on this bronze gate. It has also become a very famous attraction in Florence and a must-see for tourists.

Ye Tian and the others were a little far away from Giotto's Bell Tower and San Giovanni. They didn't immediately go to visit the two famous historical buildings, but just admired them from a distance.

There is time later, so there is no need to rush for it.

As they looked at the San Giovanni Baptistery, many media reporters gathered in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore had spotted them, and they swarmed here to try to interview them.

However, the Florence police had been prepared for a long time. The police who followed and the police patrolling the Duomo square immediately pulled up a cordon and stopped the excited media reporters.

Inside this cordon, there is also a cordon constructed by Cole and the others. Everyone is on high alert, and the media reporters cannot get close to Ye Tian and the others.

After being stopped, the media reporters could only ask questions loudly from far away. All questions were centered on the fierce gunfight that took place on Karchayoli Road in the morning.

At this time, the whole world knew that Ye Tian and the others were in Florence, facing the largest Mafia family in Italy, and there was a fierce conflict between the two.

In the course of the conflict, the two sides fired directly on the Carcayoli Road, turning this most core and most elegant ancient street in Florence into a battlefield, with bullets flying and blood everywhere!

And people also know that Ye Tian and the others won another big victory, killing seven members of the Casamonica family and two gypsy gang members in one fell swoop, but they were unharmed.

Hearing this, everyone was completely shocked, and secretly surprised.

People also have a new understanding of Ye Tian's powerful strength and craziness.

Ye Tian heard the questions from many media reporters outside the cordon really, but he did not give any response, still admiring the exquisite historical buildings in front of him.

At the same time, he did not let go of exploring the deep underground.

He had already secretly turned on the perspective, and quickly scanned all the ground and underground places in the square in front of the cathedral, and there were many surprises.

Needless to say, the situation on the ground, every historic building here is famous, a miracle in the history of architecture, radiating a dazzling light.

In these famous historical buildings, he saw a lot of valuable antique works of art, many of them top-notch ones, from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, from all ages.

And deep underground, he also saw a colorful and dazzling beautiful world.

But unfortunately, the situation here is exactly the same as the Lord's Square. Although there are many archaeological sites and valuable antique artworks buried deep underground, no one can excavate them.

Regarding the situation in the depths of the underground, the Florentine government authorities have already conducted investigations and clearly stipulated that no one can explore and dig here without permission.

Therefore, looking at the antique works of art buried deep in the ground, even Ye Tian can only have an eye addiction, but he can't own it, unless he unscrupulously steals them secretly!

Standing on the square in front of the cathedral and admiring it for a while, Ye Tian looked back and smiled and said to everyone around him:

"Guys, let's visit the church. I have been admired for a long time for the dome of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Flowers, one of the three largest domes in the world. I have long wanted to visit here, and today I finally got my wish!"

With that, Ye Tian took Betty's hand, and the two of them walked towards the door of the Basilica of Our Lady of Flowers.

Anderson and Cole followed afterwards, and everyone's excited eyes shone straight, full of expectation.

Soon, the group of them came to the door of the church and stopped at the top of the steps at the door.

At this moment, the door of the Church of Our Lady of Hundred Flowers, which had been tightly closed, suddenly opened inward, and several staff members immediately greeted them and went straight to Ye Tian and the others.

Next the staff had a few conversations with Ye Tian, ​​and then they took them into the church and closed the church door again.

Seeing this scene, the numerous media reporters gathered outside the cordon and the few tourists in the square could not help being shocked.

"Since the gun battle broke out in the morning, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Flowers has been closed in an emergency, and no one is allowed to enter it. Why are Stevens able to enter? Are they privileged?

"Who knows! I won't be surprised if anything magic happens to this guy Steven, I've long been accustomed to it, this is a guy who keeps creating miracles!"

Listening to the indignant comments from many media reporters and tourists, the policemen who followed Ye Tian and the others couldn't help showing a bitter smile on their faces.

Of course these police officers knew why Ye Tian and the others could enter the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore at this time. It was because of the Vatican and the Cardinal of Florence!

Not only the Basilica of Our Lady of the Flowers, any church in Italy, and even any Christian church in the world, it is estimated that it will open its doors to those American bastards!