Cathedral Museum.
The modern traveller strolling the streets near Cathedral Square will locate Santa Maria del Fiore from afar. The cathedral’s towering tower rises 90 metres above the ground. The huge building, masterfully decorated with stucco, is topped with a bright red dome. This dome is like a guiding beacon, it attracts the eye and calls travellers to itself. By the way, no camera, even the widest-angle camera, can capture the whole cathedral building
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore makes a lasting impression. The vast structure doesn’t overwhelm visitors with its monumentality. The intertwining of early Renaissance and Gothic resulted in a quatrocento architectural style that is inexpressibly beautiful. Most of the objects that once adorned the interior of the cathedral were gradually moved to the Duomo Museum, located in the Piazza del Duomo. The room, which served as a workshop for the architect Brunelleschi, opened as a museum at the cathedral in 1891. Visitors to the museum can admire the design drawings of the dome, as well as models created by Brunelleschi himself. The magnificent choirs that served the cathedral singers in the 15th century have also found their home in the museum.
The Museum of Opera of Saint Maria of Fiore is an alternative to the Galleria dell’Accademia.
The museum exhibits masterpieces from the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore:
In the Cathedral’s Treasure Room, the visitor will admire the “Altar of St John the Baptist”, a masterpiece by the 15th-century Florentine jewellers B. Cennini and A. Pollaiolo, created for the Baptistery.
Numerous rooms are dedicated to technical projects to create the dome.
Open all days
Open all days.
