Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
Most original sculptures from the Duomo, campanile, and Baptistery are in here — replaced outside by replicas.
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The museum holds what has been called one of the world's most important sculpture collections, built entirely from originals removed from the cathedral complex and replaced outside by copies. A reconstructed framework replicates the old cathedral façade so the statues sit at their original positions. Opened in 1891, it considerably expanded in 2015 by absorbing an adjacent theatre.
What to look for
- Donatello's Penitent Magdalene — painted and gilded wood, originally from the Baptistery
- Michelangelo's Pietà (The Deposition), which he carved intending it for his own tomb
- All three original bronze Baptistery doors by Andrea Pisano and Lorenzo Ghiberti, replaced outside by replicas
Directly opposite the east end of the Duomo; the two cantorias (singing-galleries) by Luca della Robbia and Donatello are also here, pulled from the cathedral.
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo is one of 38 sights worth the detour in Florence, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Florence pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Florence
- Michelangelo's DavidCarved for a cathedral roofline, then conscripted into politics — a 5.17-metre marble figure that became a republic's defiant face.
- Uffizi GalleryGiorgio Vasari built this as government offices in 1560; the Medici moved their art collection upstairs, and the last heiress gave it all to Florence under a formal family pact when the dynasty died out.
- Florence Cathedral (Duomo di Firenze)Brunelleschi's dome has been the largest masonry dome ever built since 1436 — and nothing has beaten it.
- Palazzo PittiA banker's act of one-upmanship that the Medici, Napoleon, and Italian kings all ended up calling home.
- Ponte VecchioThe only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during World War II — and it has been lined with shops since the Middle Ages.
- Palazzo VecchioFlorence's 1299 town hall was built on a Ghibelline rival's rubble — and the battlements were engineered to drop boiling liquid on anyone who showed up uninvited.