Visit the Duomo Museum of Milan Cathedral to see original sculptures, the Modellone, tapestries, the treasury, stained glass, art, and San Gottardo Church.
The Duomo di Milano is one of Europe’s most extraordinary cathedrals, but its full story unfolds next door in the Museo del Duomo. The Duomo Museum gathers together treasures once part of the cathedral’s life: sculptures removed from the spires, stained-glass windows too fragile for constant display, monumental tapestries, reliquaries, and the evolving model of the church itself.
What overwhelms inside the vast cathedral becomes intimate here. Visitors can study statues at eye level, trace biblical stories in colored glass, or admire the gilded details of objects once glimpsed only from a distance. The museum reveals the artistic, religious, and civic ambitions that shaped Milan’s most enduring landmark — a construction, art, and religious project that has spanned more than six centuries. Admission to the Duomo Museum is included in most Milan Cathedral tickets.
The Idea of the Fabbrica del Duomo
Construction of Milan’s cathedral began in 1386, and the project immediately surpassed the scale of any single architect or generation. To coordinate the work, the city founded the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, an institution charged with building, financing, and maintaining the church. The Fabbrica continues to oversee the cathedral today, making it one of the oldest continuously operating cultural organizations in Europe.
The museum evolved directly from this lengthy process. (The cathedral was only finished in 1965.) From the beginning, sculptors and glassmakers produced works in great numbers—far more than could be installed at once. In an ongoing process, copies replace sculptures damaged by weather and time. The Fabbrica preserved these objects both as part of the cathedral’s heritage and as resources for ongoing maintenance. The museum thus functions not only as a gallery but as the cathedral’s memory house and archive.
Treasury and Reliquaries of the Duomo Milan Museum
A visit to the Duomo Museum in Milan starts with the treasury and reliquaries. This is somewhat unfortunate, as it keeps the rooms where a close-up study of items is advisable rather busy. Many visitors run out of steam and move along more quickly, often within two or three rooms of the museum. However, don’t feel pressured to rush here. Some of the finest items in the museum are in the first couple of rooms.
The first two rooms contain the liturgical objects of the treasury from the 5th to the 13th centuries. The oldest items include significant ivories, goldsmith’s artifacts, and processional crosses.
Some absolute highlights include:
- The Evangeliary Cover, known as the Diptych of Five Parts (late 5th century, Northern Italian workshop), is a masterwork of ivory, gold, garnets, sapphires, quartz, and pearls.
- Cover of the Evangeliary of Aribert (c. 1018-26, Milanese workshop) of cast and gold sheet and richly decorated with precious stones.
- Cross of Aribert (c. 1040, Milanese workshop)
Visitors may glimpse the 1:22 scale wooden model of the Milan Duomo made by various artists between 1519 and 1891. (Study it close up on the way out.)
The following room has liturgical objects from the 15th to 17th century, some still occasionally used, and many reliquaries. Highlights include:
- The Mitre of St Charles — an archbishop’s headdress made by Mexicans with tropical bird feathers.
- Michelino da Besozzo’s Madonna of the Idea (early 15th century) — a two-sided painting still paraded each February 2, during Candlemas parades.
- Various reliquary busts, including for amongst others, St. Charles, St. Tecla, and St. Sebastian.
Sculptures in the Duomo Museum
The Duomo Museum explains the construction of Milan Cathedral in chronological order from 1386 onwards, when Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan, started to replace the basilicas of Santa Maria Maggiore (9th century) and Santa Tecla (4th century) progressively with the new cathedral. The large sculpture of St George (modeled on Visconti) originally topped the Carelli Spire, the cathedral’s oldest.
The Duomo Museum preserves many of the original statues that once adorned the cathedral’s façades, portals, and spires. With more than 3,400 figures in total, including 150 gargoyles, Milan’s cathedral is the most richly sculpted church in the world, yet almost all works visible outside today are replicas. Weathering and air pollution have forced the gradual replacement of originals with copies, and the museum has become the principal repository of this immense sculptural heritage. Many of the better-preserved or interesting works are on display throughout the museum.
Sculptures in Motion
The earliest surviving figures, carved in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, reflect the Gothic traditions of northern Europe. Prophets and patriarchs, produced by Lombard workshops and foreign sculptors invited by the Fabbrica, display elongated proportions, rigid drapery, and impassive facial expressions.
By the mid-15th century, the influence of the Italian Renaissance began to filter into the project. Sculptors introduced greater naturalism in anatomy and facial expression. Apostles and saints from this period begin to show relaxed contrapposto stances, softer folds of drapery, and gestures that suggest conversation or movement. The transition becomes even clearer in the 16th century. Artists trained in Florence and Rome contributed statues that echo the ideals of Donatello and Michelangelo.
Presented at eye level, these works allow the visitor to grasp the cathedral’s sculptural program not as a distant decorative skin but as a centuries-long dialogue between Gothic solemnity and Renaissance naturalism. The museum thus transforms the overwhelming multitude of statues into an intelligible narrative of artistic change. It reveals the Duomo as both an architectural monument and a collective sculptural masterpiece. (And of course, a religious experience for the devout.)
Stained Glass Windows in the Milan Cathedral Museum
The Duomo is just as much a cathedral of light as of stone, and the museum preserves key panels from its stained-glass windows, some dating back to the early 15th century. The Duomo has over 164 large windows, of which 55 are historiated, as the Pauper’s Bible, and animated by over 3,000 characters.
Among the earliest are scenes from the Life of Saint John the Evangelist, executed by French and German glaziers brought to Milan to establish workshops. Figures are elongated, framed against patterned grounds, in line with Gothic convention.
By the late 15th century, Italian painters provided designs for the glass. Panels such as the Flight into Egypt, attributed to Stefano da Pandino, display naturalistic modeling closer to contemporary fresco painting. The great apse window of Saint John, begun in the 1480s, reveals growing Renaissance interest in perspective and depth.
Later commissions expanded the cycle. Giuseppe Arcimboldo designed panels in the mid-16th century, while 19th-century restorations by Giuseppe Bertini, director of the Brera Academy, filled gaps left by time and war damage.
Viewed in the museum, these panels can be studied in detail, revealing both the evolution of stained-glass technique and the central role of light in shaping the cathedral’s atmosphere.
The Church of San Gottardo in Corte
The museum route also passes through the Church of San Gottardo in Corte, once the chapel of the Visconti palace. Built in 1336 by Azzone Visconti, it predates the cathedral by fifty years.
The church is famous for its octagonal bell tower and the tomb of Azzone, carved by Giovanni di Balduccio, a pupil of Giovanni Pisano. The monument combines Gothic structure with strikingly individual portraiture, making it a landmark of early Lombard sculpture.
The interior today is a sober single nave with restored Gothic proportions. Fragments of fresco survive alongside the Visconti tomb, while later Baroque additions were largely removed in a 20th-century restoration. The result is a restrained but atmospheric space that highlights the church’s medieval origins.
Frankly, seeing the interior of San Gottardo is of lesser interest. However, in the courtyard on the way is an accurate, full-scale copy (2015) of the original 1774 Madonnina.
Tapestries and Paintings in the Milan Duomo Museum
The museum’s galleries also display monumental tapestries that once decorated the cathedral interior during feast days. These works illustrate how the Duomo served as a ceremonial stage for religious festivals and processions.
The oldest tapestry illustrates Episodes from the Passion of Christ (1467-68, Franco-Flemish) sequentially on a single plane. A particularly popular tapestry is the Dancing Cherubs (1554-56 by Nicola Karcher on cartoons by Giovan Battista Bertoni). It is part of a larger cycle on the life of Moses.
These works were part of a larger cycle of more than twenty tapestries commissioned between the mid-16th and 17th centuries. Produced in Antwerp and Brussels—then Europe’s leading centers of tapestry weaving—they represent a fusion of Italian design and northern technique. When displayed during great festivals, they transformed the Gothic interior into a fabric of color, movement, and biblical storytelling.
Most of the Duomo’s large paintings still hang in the cathedral itself. However, the large painting Christ Disputing with the Doctors in the Temple (1638) by Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) is an absolute art highlight inside the museum. (Further Tintorettos are in the Brera, but the best ones are probably in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.)
The Madonnina – Icon of Milan
No symbol of Milan is more beloved than the Madonnina, the gilded copper statue of the Virgin that crowns the cathedral’s highest spire. Created in 1774 by the goldsmith Giuseppe Bini and sculptor Giuseppe Perego, the statue stands over four meters tall. Its surface, covered in gold leaf, catches the Lombard sun. (A full-size copy from 2015 is in the courtyard between the museum and San Gottardo church.)
The museum preserves the original iron framework that supported the statue as well as preparatory models (bozzetti) showing Perego’s evolving design. These reveal the careful planning behind the Virgin’s graceful turn, which gives the impression of movement in the wind.
The Madonnina quickly became Milan’s civic emblem. In modern times, no building in Milan is allowed to rise higher than the Madonnina without a replica installed on its roof—a tradition honored by skyscrapers such as the Pirelli Tower and the Unicredit Tower.
Encountered at eye level in the museum, the Madonnina becomes more than a distant golden glimmer. It is a work of artistry and engineering, as well as a living symbol of Milan’s identity.
The Modellone – A Cathedral in Miniature
Among the most fascinating objects in the Duomo Museum is the Modellone, the enormous wooden scale model of the cathedral built at a ratio of 1:22. Work on this model began in the early 16th century, when the Fabbrica faced the challenge of coordinating hundreds of craftsmen and reconciling competing architectural ideas.
At nearly four meters long, the Modellone was both a practical tool and a symbolic statement. It allowed patrons, architects, and sculptors to see the cathedral’s evolving design in three dimensions before committing it to marble.
The construction of the model is closely tied to the involvement of leading Renaissance architects such as Giovanni Antonio Amadeo and Cristoforo Solari, who contributed new proposals for façades and spires in the early 1500s. Later, during the Baroque and even the 19th century, modifications continued to be added to the Modellone. Every adjustment in style—from Gothic pinnacles to more classical proportions—was first tested here in miniature.
Beyond its technical function, the Modellone embodied the ambitious vision of the Fabbrica: a building that would never be the work of a single generation but of centuries of collective labor. Today, visitors can walk around the model just as Renaissance patrons once did, tracing the same lines and comparing the model with the full-scale cathedral outside. It also confirms why visiting the roof terraces of Milan Cathedral is such a rewarding experience.
Duomo Museum as a Living Archive
Unlike most museums, the Duomo Museum functions as a working extension of the cathedral itself. The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo continues to cycle fragile works into the museum while placing durable copies outside, ensuring that the building remains visually intact. Conservation laboratories linked to the museum restore marble, glass, and metal, often employing advanced techniques such as 3D scanning or laser cleaning.
Exhibits, therefore, change over time, reinforcing the idea that the Duomo is not finished but constantly renewed. Basic maintenance is expensive and never-ending. Visitors glimpse not only the past but also the ongoing work of care and preservation that keeps the cathedral alive.
The final rooms contain interesting collections of preparatory models, which artists had to produce before receiving a commission. The Camposanto Gallery shows some of the 700 plaster and terracotta models produced in the 17th to 19th centuries.
Other models were competing works to obtain commissions. The Fabbrica would pick a subject, which could be religious or secular, which explains the large number of Hercules Slaying the Nemean Lion and Hercules and Aniaeus models. Giuseppe Perego’s Hercules preceded his commission for the Madonnina by a few years.
The museum also displays an interesting collection of drawings and models for the overdoors and ambulatory perimeter.
A final exhibition shows the proposals for the fifth and last door of the Duomo, which marked the end of construction in 1965. In a competition reminding of Ghiberti and Brunelleschi’s designs for the Gates of Paradise doors of the Baptistery in Florence, artists presented proposals. In the final round, the designs of Luciano Minguzzi won over the more modern proposals of Lucio Fontana. Fontana’s ideas were appreciated but “deemed too far from the traditional language of the existing doors”. (Fontana has a dedicated room in the nearby Museo del Novecento.)
Visitor Information: Duomo Museum in Milan
Opening Hours
The Duomo Museum of Milan Cathedral is open Thursday to Tuesday from 10:00 to 19:00. (Clearing of the rooms starts already at 18:30, so don’t visit too late.)
The Duomo Museum is closed on Wednesdays.
Access is without time-slot reservations and usually within two days of the Duomo entrance.
Milan Duomo Museum Tickets and Tours
Oddly, there is no ticket available to see only the Duomo Museum. The museum ticket is always in combination with the cathedral. Currently, entry to the museum is included in all cathedral tickets and passes that include the interior of the Duomo. Only on Wednesday, when the museum is closed, is it possible to buy tickets for only the cathedral. (The saving of not seeing the museum is only €1 or 2.)
The cheapest ticket to see the museum is the Duomo+Museum ticket, which is currently €10. (€5 for children 6 to 18, free only for under 6 years old.)
→ See Tips on Buying Tickets to Visit Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano) for the bewildering number of combination tickets available for the Duomo, Museum, and the Terraces. Visiting the roof and terraces of Milan Cathedral is for many a highlight of an Italian holiday.
Time-slot reservations on tickets depend on the combinations selected. The stated time is the terrace access (if selected), otherwise the time for entry into the cathedral. The museum is without a time slot reservation. However, you must usually visit it within two calendar days — no extension due to Wednesday closure.
Tours of the Duomo Museum are fairly rare, but many guided tours of the cathedral itself may include admission tickets to the museum — ask the guides.
Transportation to the Duomo Museum in Milan
The Duomo Museum is in the Palazzo Reale, Piazza del Duomo, 12, 20122 Milan, Italy, south side of the cathedral. It is at the opposite side from the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel II and near the Museo del Novecento. The well-marked entrance is separate from the larger cathedral ticket office and shop. Visitors with tickets go directly in – don’t get in the ticket queue for other exhibitions.
The easiest public transportation is by metro, with Duomo station right below the museum. Several tram lines also stop nearby.
More Tips on Milan Sights and Tickets
- Top Leonardo da Vinci Sights and Art to See in Milan
- The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci:
- How to Buy Tickets for the Last Supper.
- What to Expect when Visiting the Last Supper Museum.
- Tips on How to Buy Tickets or Book Tours for the Last Supper Museum — buy early or only guided tours are available.
- How to Get Free Tickets for The Last Supper and a step-by-step guide for booking free Sunday tickets.
- Booking Guided Tours of The Last Supper at GYG.
- Visit Chiesa di Santa Maria Delle Grazie — admission to the church next to The Last Supper Museum is free.
- Milan Duomo Complex:
- Visit the Free San Maurizio Church — endless Renaissance frescoes in the “Sistine Chapel of Milan”.
- Visit the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana — Leonardo Da Vinci’s Musician painting and sketches from the Codex Atlanticus.
- Visit the Pinacoteca di Brera — a world-class collection of Italian paintings from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
- Visit the Museo del Novecento — for world-class modern Italian art from the 20th century (right next to the Duomo).
- Visit the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci
- Cheapest Public Transportation to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP).
- Book luggage storage in advance — close to transportation hubs is generally the better option.
- Book Last Supper Tours at Viator.
- Book Guided Tours for the Duomo, Last Supper, and other sights in Milano from Get Your Guide.
- Buy Admission Tickets for the Duomo and top sights in Milan from Tiqets.
- Buy Milan Guidebooks at Amazon.