Museum of the Cathedral
Museum of the Cathedral
museums
Piazza del Duomo, 9-red, 50122 Firenze, Italia
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This museum is the perfect complement to the tour of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. It was recently remodeled and hosts a series of important artworks related to the cathedral. Many of the originals that once decorated the church are conserved here (they have been replaced by copies), and the museum has just about everything needed for a full understanding of the city’s cathedral. In the room dedicated to an ideal reconstruction of the original façade there are works by Arnolfo di Cambio (including Boniface VIII and a stately Virgin and Child), Donatello (St. John) and other artists. Ghiberti’s original panels for the Door of Paradise are an experience to behold. The famous Pietà, which Michelangelo carved when he was over seventy, is a statue of rare dramatic intensity. Not far from the two famous cantorie – by Luca della Robbia and Donatello – is a series of sculptures that decorated the bell tower: a considerable group of statues by Donatello, and a series of bas-reliefs by Andrea Pisano, Arnoldi and others. The very modern looking and tormented Magdalene by Donatello once stood in the Baptistry. In addition to the section devoted to reliquaries and the silver altar made by A. Pollaiolo, Verrocchio and others, there is a particularly interesting area dedicated to Brunelleschi’s Dome. Alongside of the great architect’s funeral mask is a wooden model of the dome and a group of the original tools and materials used to erect this miracle of engineering.
museums
Piazza del Duomo, 9-red, 50122 Firenze, Italia
Show on map
This museum is the perfect complement to the tour of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. It was recently remodeled and hosts a series of important artworks related to the cathedral. Many of the originals that once decorated the church are conserved here (they have been replaced by copies), and the museum has just about everything needed for a full understanding of the city’s cathedral. In the room dedicated to an ideal reconstruction of the original façade there are works by Arnolfo di Cambio (including Boniface VIII and a stately Virgin and Child), Donatello (St. John) and other artists. Ghiberti’s original panels for the Door of Paradise are an experience to behold. The famous Pietà, which Michelangelo carved when he was over seventy, is a statue of rare dramatic intensity. Not far from the two famous cantorie – by Luca della Robbia and Donatello – is a series of sculptures that decorated the bell tower: a considerable group of statues by Donatello, and a series of bas-reliefs by Andrea Pisano, Arnoldi and others. The very modern looking and tormented Magdalene by Donatello once stood in the Baptistry. In addition to the section devoted to reliquaries and the silver altar made by A. Pollaiolo, Verrocchio and others, there is a particularly interesting area dedicated to Brunelleschi’s Dome. Alongside of the great architect’s funeral mask is a wooden model of the dome and a group of the original tools and materials used to erect this miracle of engineering.