Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel

We waited with the masses and were efficiently escorted to the Sistine Chapel for the early opening. Still quite a few people there and it was annoying they were not going with the signage and the guide's request for silence during the viewing. You get 20 min to look at this incredible set of paintings on the ceiling that took Mike M four years to paint. The rest of the tour was a bit of a blur, a walk with the crowds stopping momentarily for some highlights and then on. With 30,000 people a day going through they have to keep it moving! If I went back again, I would go later in the day and just spend time going through some of the amazing galleries and collections there. From 500 AD to 1800 the popes were both the religious and government head so had tremendous power and resources which they used to collect many precious arts, do interior decorating and sponsor great works of religiously themed art. They also saved a lot of treasures from being destroyed as they appreciated the value of antiquities.

The Vatican Museums are within Vatican City and comprise several exhibitions housed within several museum galleries. The collection began with the purchase by Pope Julius II of the statue of Laocoon and his Sons in 1506.

The Sistine Chapel is named after Pope Sixtus IV (pope from 1471 to 1484). Each surface of the chapel is covered with exquisite art, the Last Judgment is painted on the wall opposite the entrance; the story of Christ is featured on the North Wall and the stories of Moses on the South Wall. However the main painting which visitors come to see is the ceiling fresco by Michelangelo. Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint 12 apostles and ornamental motifs however he was not too enamored with this idea and eventually was given a free hand to plan the ceiling painting as he pleased. He painted 9 important events from the Book of Genesis down the center of the ceiling, the most famous being God giving Adam life with the touching of their two finger tips.

Offical site:
http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivatica…Read more