T R I N I T Y

Lutheran Church

G a t e s   o f   P a r a d i s e

No visit to Trinity Lutheran Church in Hicksville, NY, would be complete without a viewing of the beautiful golden doors that hang in the entrance to our church. The doors are a replica of the Gates of Paradise, the master work of Lorenzo Ghiberti that hangs in the East portal of the Baptistery of the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Florence, Italy.

The Baptistery was originally the main Cathedral, having been completed in 1150. A continuous effort was made by its maintenance guild, the Arte di Calimala, to give it worthy decoration. By 1338 the South portal had a pair of magnificent bronze doors depicting scenes from the Bible.

At the turn of the 15th Century, the Calimala commissioned Lorenzo Ghiberti to create companion doors for the North portal. Those doors, containing 28 panels depicting scenes from the New Testament, were finished and hung on April 19, 1424.

The Calimali was so impressed that Ghiberti was commissioned to execute another door for the East portal. This set of doors, containing 10 panels depicting scenes from the Old Testament, was hung on July 13, 1452. Tradition has it that Michelangelo, stunned by their beauty, christened them the Gates of Paradise, a name they retain to this day.

The two pairs of doors to which Lorenzo Ghiberti devoted fifty years of his life are important not only for the exquisite handling of relief and mastery of composition, but also for the training ground they furnished for some of the most significant artists of the time. Ghiberti considered them the crowning achievement of his life, and the foundery where they were cast became known simply as le Porte.

The replica of Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise that hangs at the entrance to the facade of Trinity Lutheran Church was produced from the molds by Bruno Bearzi of Florence. The doors were a gift in loving memory of Katharine M. Karlson and Kenneth D. Karlson, the wife and son of George C. Karlson.