FLORENCE, ITALY – A team of artisans on the outskirts of Florence are casting the final panels of a replica of a Renaissance masterpiece: Lorenzo Ghiberti’s famed bronze north doors on the Florence Baptistery. The work is in preparation for the doors’ installation in place of the original at the end of January, Associated Press reported yesterday November 23, 2015.

In 1401, a competition was announced by the Arte di Calimala (Cloth Importers Guild) to design doors which would eventually be placed on the north side of the baptistry.

These north doors would serve as a votive offering to celebrate the sparing of Florence from relatively recent scourges such as the Black Death in 1348. Many artists competed for this commission and a jury selected seven semifinalists. These finalists include Lorenzo Ghiberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatelloand Jacopo della Quercia,  with 21-year-old Ghiberti winning the commission.

At the time of judging, only Ghiberti and Brunelleschi were finalists, and when the judges could not decide, they were assigned to work together on them. Brunelleschi’s pride got in the way, and he went to Rome to study architecture leaving Ghiberti to work on the doors himself. Ghiberti’s autobiography, however, claimed that he had won, “without a single dissenting voice.” The original designs of The Sacrifice of Isaac by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi are on display in the museum of the Bargello.

The original underwent a 2 1/2 -year restoration before being put back on public display last month, indoors at the New Museum of the Opera del Duomo. The replica, which has been painstakingly created from 3 ½ tons of bronze, will be the permanent stand-in at the octagonal baptistery.

Chief artisan Jacopo Ciglia said the biggest challenge was precisely replicating Ghiberti’s artwork, working from drawings and photos, as well as the original.