European Museum Night 2026: Free or €1 Museum Entry

Once more this year, the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) in Florence will be participating in the European Night of Museums. Free admission is offered on the evening of May 23, 2026 (from 9 to 11 pm), with the venue closing at midnight. The second floor of the Uffizi Gallery will be accessible from 7 to 11 pm at a cost of only €1.

Other sites with €1 evening accessibility include the Bargello Museum of Renaissance Sculpture (7 – 9:50 pm); the Academy Gallery, home to Michelangelo’s David (7 – 11 pm); and the Medici Chapels (7 – 9:50 pm).

The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo boasts nearly 6,000 square meters of exhibition space, with 25 galleries spread across three floors. The museum displays a collection of unique medieval and Florentine Renaissance sculpture. There will be statues and reliefs featured in marble, bronze, and silver, including masterpieces by artists including: Michelangelo to Donatello, Arnolfo di Cambio, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Andrea Pisano, Antonio del Pollaiolo, Luca della Robbia, and Andrea del Verrocchio. In particular, Michelangelo’s Bandini Pietà, Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, and Donatello’s Penitent Magdalene and the Prophets will be on display.

In the center of the museum is the Sala del Paradiso (in English, the Hall of Paradise), measuring 36 by 20 by 20 meters. There is a colossal 1:1 scale model of the original façade of Florence Cathedral reconstructed on one side, with the three monumental bronze-and-gold doors of the Florence Baptistery exhibited on the other side.

This event is made possible thanks to the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. (H.D.)