The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Museum of the Cathedral Works) contains a history of the building of the Duomo and houses many original important pieces of art removed from the Duomo, Baptistery and the Campanile in order to protect them from the elements.
The museum contains examples of the machines - some designed by Brunelleschi - used in the construction of the Cathedral, detailed wooden model proposals for the structure, and many of the original drafts and plans. It even has a death mask of Brunelleschi, without whom the cathedral would never have been completed.
Here you will find the actual Bronze panels cast by Ghiberti for his 'Gates of Paradise', the statues that graced the niches of Giotto's Bell Tower (carved by artists such as Donatello, Bernardo Cennini, Michelozzo), and the gothic statues from the exterior of the baptistery.
Other famous pieces of art include Michelangelo's Pieta (1548-55), which shows the dead Christ slipping out of the hands of Nicodemus. It is believed that Michelangelo worked on the carving with the intention of it decorating his own tomb. The face of Nicodemus is a self-portrait of the great artist. Also, Donatello's emotive wooden carving of The Magdalene (1453-55), a Renaissance work which breaks free from the more rigid Gothic limitations for a more naturalistic free form.
Opening Hours
Daily 9am to 7.30pm (Sun 1.45pm)
Price
6 Euro
Address
Piazza del Duomo
External Links
www.operaduomo.firenze.it
 | | Michelangelo's Pieta |
 | | Donatello's wooden carving of The Magdalene |
 | | Death mask of Brunelleschi |
 | | The 0riginal gothic statues from the exterior of the baptistery and the actual bronze panels cast by Ghiberti.
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