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Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Pisa


A family in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. Photo Creative Commons License Emiliano.


Renaissance sculpture. Photo Creative Commons License sp!ros.


Bust by Donatello. Photo Creative Commons License sp!ros.

Location map and aerial view of Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. For a larger interactive view, see our Pisa Map.




Housed in an old convent just down the street from the Leaning Tower, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Pisa displays a variety of religious art from Pisa and elsewhere.

What to See

Room 1 centers on the architecture of Pisa Duomo and its neighbors, with several detailed models and etched glass plans.

Room 3 displays numerous works of art from the Romanesque era, including delicate 12th-century carvings, Moorish-influenced marble decorations, a huge 12th-century wooden crucifix from Burgundy, and a magnificent11th-century Islamic bronze griffin. The griffin was pillaged in the Crusades and decorated the Duomo's cupola for centuries before being replaced by the present copy.

Room 6 features well-worn 13th-century Giovanni Pisano statues from the baptistery. The treasury shelters a precious Pisan relic: the cross that led Pisans on the First Crusade. There are also two Pisanos here: a wooden crucifix and a swaybacked Madonna col Bambino carved from an ivory tusk in 1299.

The last few rooms house important sketches of the Camposanto frescoes produced during their restoration in the early 19th century. The prints are made from a series of etchings produced by Carlo Lasinio, the restorer, and colored by his son. These prints had an important influence on the burgeoning pre-Raphaelite movement when they were first published and they are still the best record of the paintings that went up in flames when the Camposanto was bombed in 1944.

Quick Facts

Site Information
Names: Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
Location:Pisa, Tuscany, Italy
Faith:Museum
Category: Museums
Visitor Information
Address:Piazza Arcivescovado 6, Pisa, Italy
Coordinates: 43.722622° N, 10.397047° E   (view on Google Maps)
Lodging:View hotels near this location
Phone:050-560-547

Note: This information was accurate when published and we do our best to keep it updated, but details such as opening hours can change without notice. To avoid disappointment, please check with the site directly before making a special trip.

Travel Resources

Article Sources

  1. Personal visit (May 2, 2008).
  2. John Moretti, Frommer's Florence, Tuscany & Umbria, 6th edition (January 2008).


Last updated on December 14, 2009.






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