Rome
Price €69
Min age 0
Rating 4.48 / 5 [33983 ratings]
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Travel bucket list idea:
Vatican City, Lazio, Italy
Sistine Chapel
Credit Shutterstock.com/S-F
This complex of museums, in the home of the Catholic Church, are mind-bogglingly opulent. They’re home to one of the greatest hoards of treasure, antiquities and art anywhere.
Michelangelo’s extraordinary Sistine Chapel is arguably the world’s greatest masterpiece, and the start of the show here. No single artist before or after has ever equalled his powerful vision: the ceiling (1508-12), painted for Pope Julius II, surrounding the famous scene of God creating man, and the much darker, harrowing vision of the Last Judgement (1534-41).
This astonishingly beautiful gallery, located on the west side of the Belvedere Courtyard, features a series of painted topographical maps of Italy, painted over three years by Danti in 1580.
Housing Greek and Roman sculptures; most are copies of lost ancient originals, notably The Apollo Belvedere and Laocoon, which are the stars of the Pio Clementino Museum.
Two original spiral stairways designed by Bramante in 1505 are located on the other side of the museum can be tour by special arrangement.
Superb Etruscan, Greek and Egyptian works fill the Gregorian museums. Large marble fragments from the Athens Parthenon and mosaics from the Baths of Caracalla can also be seen.
Paintings by Giotto, Leonardo, Titian and Caravaggio fill the Pinacoteca (art gallery) along with a single, rare work by Leonardo da Vinci depicting St Jerome in the desert. There’s also a room entirely devoted to Raphael, that includes his The Transfiguration.
These wondrous papal apartments, frescoed by Raphael (including the School of Athens), take their name of Spaniard Rodrigo de Borja y Doms, who was elected as pope following the death of Innocent VIII. Consisting of six monumental spaces, today the Borgia Apartments house part of the Vatican Museums’ Collection of Contemporary Art.
Cipro-Musei Vaticani is the nearest metro station.
The queues at the entrance are horrendous; book a time-dated ticket online and print out a voucher. If you haven’t booked a ticket, get there before 9am when the ticket office opens and sprint straight to the Sistine Chapel to avoid the worst crowds (then work your way back through the museums).
Once you’re inside, there are four colour-coded itineraries taking in the most popular collections: the shortest (to the Raphael rooms and Sistine Chapel) takes 90 minutes. You can also book onto official guided tours in English or Italian of the main museum highlights, or the mystery-laden ‘Hidden Vatican Museums’. https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home
To get into the Vatican Museums, both men and women must have their knees and shoulders covered, no matter how hot it is. The dress code is strictly enforced. The sheer scale of the museums (over 7km in total length) can be exhausting; wear comfortable shoes.
The museums are open all year round, Monday to Saturday. Closed Sunday – apart from last Sunday of the month, when the museum is free. Wednesdays are the most crowded days, so avoid if possible.
If you’re doing St. Peter’s and the museums on the same day, visit the museums first as the wardens begin hurrying people round from mid-afternoon.
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