The Cremona Baptistery stands free-standing in the Piazza del Comune, an octagonal Romanesque building begun in the 12th century and completed with Gothic additions in the 14th. It is slightly smaller than the cathedral beside it but extraordinarily well-preserved, with the original blind arcading and decorative stone-carving on the exterior essentially intact.
The interior is generally accessible and worth entering for the sense of space — the octagonal plan creates a very different atmosphere from the nave of the cathedral. A 13th-century fresco of the Last Judgment is the most significant internal feature. The baptistery makes a good compositional element in photographs of the Piazza del Comune; its form and colour harmonize well with the cathedral and the Torrazzo despite being built in three different centuries.