Rome Day 4

Today we go to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. We were booked to see St Peter’s Basilica, but it was closed to tours.

The Vatican Museums are huge. Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century. The collection includes 70,000 objects 20,000 which are on display. We only began to scratch the surface of the variety and complexity of the exhibits during our visit.

The next stop was the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel was built by Pope Sixtus IV between 1473 and 1481. It is a long (118 feet) and narrow (48 feet) room with a ceiling that is 66 feet off the ground. I was not ready for the impact of Michelangelo’s last judgement and ceiling frescoes even though I had done a lot of preparation and study prior to our visit.  It was a privilege to be able to see the chapel and wonder how one man alone could create such powerful art.

The Sistine Chapel is the same dimensions as the King Solomon's Temple as outlined in the books of I Kings and 2 Chronicles.

In the afternoon we visited the Pantheon. The Pantheon was originally a 2nd century Roman temple and was converted to a Catholic Church in 609 AD. It is one of the best preserved ancient Roman buildings because it has been in continuous use. The large dome is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
Interior of the dome

It was a great day.

Tomorrow:  No scheduled tours and packing for home!Read more