The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Museum of the Works of the Cathedral) in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 is a museum containing many of the original works of art created for the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 (Duomo

Duomo

Duomo is a term for a cathedral church. The formal word for a church that is presently a cathedral is cattedrale; a Duomo may be either a present or a former cathedral . Some, like the Duomo of Monza, have never been cathedrals, although old and important...

) of Florence. The museum is located just east of the Duomo, near its apse

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

. It opened in 1891, and now houses what has been called "one of the world's most important collections of sculpture." Among the museum's holdings are Lorenzo Ghiberti

Lorenzo Ghiberti

Lorenzo Ghiberti , born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking.-Early life:...

's doors for the Florence Baptistery called the Gates of Paradise, the cantorias, or singing-galleries, designed for the cathedral by Luca della Robbia

Luca della Robbia

Luca della Robbia was an Italian sculptor from Florence, noted for his terra-cotta roundels.Luca Della Robbia developed a pottery glaze that made his creations more durable in the outdoors and thus suitable for use on the exterior of buildings. His work is noted for its charm rather than the drama...

 and Donatello

Donatello

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , also known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence...

 (also from him is a "Magdalene Penitent

Magdalene Penitent

"Magdalene Penitent" is a wooden sculpture by the Renaissance Italian artist Donatello, executed around 1453-1455. Executed likely for the Baptistery of Florence, it was received with astonishment for its unprecedented realism...

"), and "The Deposition"

The Deposition (Michelangelo)

The Deposition is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo...

, a pietà

Pietà

The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...

intended by Michelangelo

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...

for his tomb.