Vatican Museums

This museum is absolutely incredible and has many, many exhibits from all over the world. It was impossible to see everything. I was fortunate to have a guided tour because everything feels very mixed together - you take one turn and the art changes centuries and continents with no warning. I especially liked seeing the work of famous artists like Michaelangelo, Raphael (my new favorite artist, was also a great dude), Dali, Van Gogh, and even Francis Bacon. There was also a large section of 16th century maps of the Italian region (not yet Italy, but apparently these maps were one of the first written references to the area as such) that are incredibly detailed and amazingly accurate. Of course I loved that part! There was also a postmodern exhibit of the artist Jean-Michel Folon that I really liked, it was a bit dark and not what I expected to see in the Vatican. The Sistine chapel is also in the museum which was so amazing to see but unfortunately you can’t take pictures of it. It was a bit weird because they say it is too holy to take pictures but then they make you walk through like 5 gift shops to exit it… strange.
One of the coolest aspects was Raphael’s “apartment” where he was in residence and painted all of the walls. Originally it was thought that he did all the sketches and his pupils did the coloring. But it was recently discovered - like, literally a few months ago in late 2021 - that two of the figures were painted completely by Raphael. Not sure how they figured that one out. So I got to experience that a little differently than most people who have visited before. Cool little fact.Read more