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| Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel |
From USD $38 |
| Exclusive! No waiting lines. Reserved entrance with audio guide.
Every day at 11:30AM, except on Sundays and religious holidays.
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Entrance to the Vatican |
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Escorted by a representative of Opera Romana (recognized by the yellow & white flag with the logo of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi). |
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Multi language audio-guide. |
| * Price is per person |
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Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel |
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The Vatican museums are considered among the most important in the world, and visit to them is a must for anyone traveling to Rome. Here, over the years, the Popes have gathered and preserved for future generations some of the greatest masterpieces of all time, and some of the most precious artifacts of the past.
Initially the Popes placed the art collections found in their palaces at the disposition of the public, for the good of culture. At the beginning of 1500s, Julius II was the first to expose, in the Octagonal Courtyard, a selection of valuable ancient sculptures. At the end of the eighteenth century; at Clement XIV and Pius VI's initiative, the first organized artistic collection was opened to the public. From that time onwards, works continued to be added, resulting a collection that covers a vast period of time in history, and a wide geographical scope, stretching from the world ancient Egypt until today.
Raphael's Rooms, the private living quarters of Pope Julius II are decorated with some important frescoes by the great Renaissance painter. In these rooms, one masterpiece follows another, such as the Triumph of Religion, the school of Athnes, the Liberation of St. Peter, the Mass of Bolsena, the Borgo fire and the cycle dedicated to the emperor Constantine.
The Sistine Chapell takes the name of Pope Sixtus IV Rover, who was the first to have the ancient Great Chapel restructured in 1477. He commissioned a team of painters including Perugino, Botticelli and Ghirlandaio, to paint a series of frescoes on the lives of Christ and of Moses on the lateral walls. The vault was painted with a blue sky scattered with stars.
Of course for many the Sistine Chapel is linked to the name of the great Michaelangelo, due to his two great works of the vault, with the stories of Genesis, and the great wall of the Last judgment. Everything began with Julius II, who wanted a great fresco, inspired by the book of Genesis, to be painted in the place of the starry sky. To complete this work, he called Michaelangelo Buonarroti in 1508. After four years, Julius II inaugurated the new Sistine Chapel with a solemn mass. Michaelangelo illustrated, in the nine central squares of the vault, the fundamental moments of the book of Genesis, such as Creation, the Fall of Man, and Noah and the flood. He surrounded the vault with powerful figures of Sibyls, Prophets and the Ancestors of Christ, as well as with the narration of a few moments of Israel's history. Never before had a work such power been created by a single artist. But Michaelangelo's ties to the Sistine Chapel do not finish here. Twenty years passed, when towards the end of 1533, Clement VII Medici called him back for an even more demanding job: to paint the Last Judgment on the wall behind the altar. The artist began this grandiose work in 1536 during the pontificate of Paul III and brought it to fulfillment in 1541. In the fresco Michaelangelo has depicted in singular fashion the generous return of Christ on the Last Day. Through his tremendous artistic talent. Michaelangelo has sought to translate the invisible beauty and majesty of God into invisible forms. The frescoes of the Sistine Chapel have returned to their ancient splendor after a long and complex restoration, completed in 1999. For centuries, Church history has taken place in this Chapel, as it continues to do today.
The Conclave for the election of the Supreme Pontiff is held here to this day.
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