Some of you are old enough to remember the disastrous November 4,1966 flood,
when the Arno River breached its embankment and devastated the historic area of Florence.
These magnificent 17 foot high gilded bronze doors created by Lorenzo Ghiberti, and dating from 1425-52, were severely damaged.
The swirling flood waters washed two of the panels off the doors and they were later discovered in the mud.

Since that time, a 25 year conservation effort has restored the panels to their original glory, which inspired Michelangelo
in the 15th century, to christen them beautiful enough to be the "Gates of Paradise".

During this restoration, copies of the doors have been installed in their original location on the East side of the Baptistery, directly opposite the Duomo.
It is anticipated that these copies will remain in place, and the original doors are now permanently installed in the Opera del Duomo.
(The copies installed on the Baptistery can be seen in the first image on my Florence 2009 gallery just below this gallery.)
The original panels were only recently re-assembled and installed as seen in the image above and in the next picture.

The restoration gave insights into the fabrication process and the evolution of Ghiberti’s imagery which depicts 10 narratives
from the Old Testament such as the Creation of Eve, Sacrifice of Isaac, and David and Goliath.

Ghiberti used a method known as the "lost wax" procedure to make the door panels from bronze, which was very costly.
After their completion, Ghiberti gilded the panels with pure gold which he mixed with mercury and painted on the bronze panels.
The relief panels were then heated to burn off the mercury, leaving the gold permanently attached to the bronze.
The method was dangerous and not used any more.

I feel very fortunate to have seen various panels of the doors several times as they were restored and put on display at the Opera del Duomo.
The opportunity to see the restored panels all together again was the highlight of this year's trip to Italy !