The Baptistery is one of Florence’s most important religious buildings, dedicated to the patron saint, John the Baptist. Raised on the foundations of a Roman building, it is a characteristic example of the Tuscan Romanesque style, dating from around the 11th century.
The Baptistery is known for its doors, which are copies; the originals are in the Duomo museum; right across the street. The Baptistery is also known for its spacious interior, topped with an octagonal dome, with pre-Renaissance mosaic art in the byzantine style by workers from St Mark's in Venice.
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo - museum of the works of the Cathedral, opened in 1891 and contains what has been called "one of the world's most important collections of sculpture." The museum holds many of the original works of art created for the Cathedral, including Ghiberti's Baptistery doors, Donatello's Mary Magdalene, and Michelangelo's Pieta, which he intended for his own tomb.