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Rome City Guide: The Vatican Museums & The Sistine Chapel

THE INCREDIBLE VISIT YOU CANNOT MISS. THE SISTINE CHAPEL AND THE MASTERPIECES OF THE REINASSANCE.

 

visit Sistine Chapel. skip the line

The Vatican Museums are one of the most important museums complex of the world. The museums are housed in the Renaissance edifices constructed by the various Popes trough the centuries; at the entrannce is important take some minutes to admire the splendid helicoidail staircase, designed by Giuseppe Momo, while the internal courtyards were designed by Bramante upon the pope Julius II.
The rich variety of art collections contained in these museums are an absolute must for every visitor.

For centuries, the Popes, found of arts, have collected and conserved various works and thus created one of the largest museums of the world.


The collection is displayed in chronological and geographical order , starting from the Egyptian art to the Medieval italian art.
The Vatican Museums include:
· the Chiaramonti Museum, full of neoclassical style statues;
· the Museum Pio Clementino where is located the exceptional Lacoon group, the famous statue of Apollo and the Perseus with the head of Medusa;
· the Library
· the Raphael’s Stanze (rooms), in which is possible to admire the fastus and the art of the frescoes by the great artist commissionated by Pope julius II.
· The Sistine Chapel -

The Chapel was commissionated by Pope Sixtus IV to Giovanni de Dolci between 1475 and 1483.


The decoration of the Chapel started in 1482 and this changed a lot the severe original look of the place. The Pope commissionated some of the best painters of the time such as Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Rosselli giving life to one of the triumphal painting works of the Renaissance.
The Pope wanted the Chapel decorated with scenes from the Old Testament of the Bible and from the New Testament (life of Jesus). Therefore the paintings shows some scenes from the Life of Moses and other scenes, on the opposite side of the chapel, inspired by the life of Christ.

On the walls, is possible to admire all those scenes , painted by those grat artists.


The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
In 1508, Julius II commissionated Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Chapel. The gigantic work started on 1508 ad was completed only in 1512. The work shows the genius of the artist; he painted, over the existing architecture, a painted one, in which he collocated all the scenes from the Genesis from the altar to the entrance wall.

From the altar, in the middle part of the ceiling is possible to recognize: the “Separation of Light and Darkness”; the “Creation of the Sun and the Moon”; the Creation of Trees and Plants”; The famous “creation of Adam”; the “Creation of Eva”; the “Original Sin”; “Noah”s sacrifice”; “Noah’s Flood” and the “Drunkness of Noah”. Looking at the altar, on the left: “The Libyan Sybil”; “Daniela”; “Cuman Sybil”; “Isaia”; “Delphic Sybil”. From the altar to the opposide side, at the right: “Geremia”; the “Persian Sybil”; “Ezechiele”; the “Eritrean Sybil” and “Gioele”.


The wonderful “Last Judgment”, located on the wall behind the main altar, was pained 23 years after the ceiling, during the Luteran Reformation and the terrible Sack of Rome.
The powerful message of the “Dies Irae” explodes in the scene in which Jesus Christ aroses as a supreme judge. This painting has been restored with a hard work from started in 1980 and ended in 1994. the restoration revealed the true colour used by Michelangelo which was never be seen before, an incredible discovering that led some art experts to revise the theories about the use of colour by this artist.

Why we suggest to enjoy a guided tour of the Vatican Museums?
You cannot imagine how many works of art are displayed inside the galleries of this huge museal complex, you may risk to skip important works or waste precious time.
And what about the inner meanings and secrets hidden inside the paintings or the sculptures? 
The Vatican Museums is the "land" of our tour guides, they'll make for you the bestselection of the most important works and will optimize your time giving you all the information to get a complete visit you'll never forget.