The doors of paradise.

So a little over three years ago I had the amazing opportunity to go to Italy and it was art nerd heaven, I love the Renaissance. One of the things I was excited to see was The Gates of Paradise beautiful doors with panels sculpted for the baptistry of the Duomo in Florence. They were made by Lorenzo Ghiberti and his son Vittorio.

The original panels have been removed to a museum and replaced by copies but they're still beautiful. The gate keeps the tourists at bay I'm sure but it does block the view.

What a lot of people may not know is that you can also see a replica of the Gates of Paradise at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. These panels were a ground breaking part of the Renaissance, perspective was used, etc. It was really cool to be able to see them up close and personal and hardly anyone else was around.