The Baptistery of San Giovanni ad Fontes is a religious edifice in Lomello. An example of Romanesque-Lombard architecture, it is annexed to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, another early Middle Ages structure.
The baptistery has a typical cross plan, but in the interior the central part forms an octagon, over which is a dome of the same shape. The interior is wholly plastered, and can be accessed from two portals. The baptistery has, on the east-west axis, an overall length of 16 m.
The main element is the baptismal font, dating to the 7th-8th centuries.
The baptistery has an elevation of 13 m and is entirely built of brickworks, parts of which date to the 5th-6th centuries. The dome is a later addition (c. 10th century), and was built using less precious materials.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.