Highlights of the Vatican Museum

 

The Vatican Museum highlights access to rich, historic art and extensive collections of sculptors and paintings. Be sure to get your tickets early and arrive early.

It will take you about four to five hours to see everything.

You’ll walk through a total of fourteen and a half kilometers of art.

Here are some key highlights I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

The Most Photographed Staircase in the World Shortly after you enter, you’ll encounter the Snail Staircase, also famous as the Spiral Staircase designed by designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1832.

Raphael Rooms Imagine this, four frescoed chambers by Michaelangelo and Raphael just overlooking the belvedere courtyard. There’s more to this short list but here are my favorites:

• Constantine’s defeat of Maxentius at the battle of Milvian Bridge.
• Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple.
• The Mass of Bolsena.
• The Encounter of Leo the Great with Attila.
• The Liberation of St Peter has the most epic depiction of light.
• The School of Athens is the first room that Raphael painted and has some interesting easter eggs. The seated figure in front of the steps is Michelangelo and Plato is Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael included a self-portrait in the lower right corner the second figure from the right.
• The Fire in the Borgo’s ceiling was painted by Raphael’s master, Perugino.

Gregorian Egyptian Museum Nine rooms of ancient Egyptian artifacts. Taken from Egypt in Roman times. If you’ve ever been fascinated by movies that involved ancient Egypt, this is section you shouldn’t miss.

Vatican Historical Museum and the Portraits of the Popes A James Bond like gallery for Popes featuring collections from the sixteenth century to today. Pope-mobiles, from the first carts and carriages to the little motorised white ones we have today.

Sistine Chapel The most visited church in the Vatican. Take a moment to see Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, Botticelli’s murals including Temptations of Christ , Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes, nine panels depicting scenes from the Creation, Adam and Eve, the Fall, and the plight of Noah. and the Last Judgment. You’re likely going to see it with. 2000 people.

You’ll see in person one of the most famous images in Western art, showing a bearded God pointing his finger at Adam.

Papal Throne Taken from its original home, the Ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop in Rome is surrounded by beautiful mosaics and frescoes.

Gallery of Maps Imagine a corridor containing one hundred twenty meters of topographical maps commissioned in 1580. This is a must see. Sala Rotonda A smaller scale Roman building with curved walls, lined with huge statues and the floor, laid with stunning mosaics. See the gilded statue of Hercules.

Gallery of the Statues Originally the walls were covered with frescoes of landscapes and cities with romantic cupids in the lunettes now a long corridor lined with statues down into the Gallery of Busts.

Pinacoteca Vaticana Houses Raphael’s ‘Oddi Alterpiece’ and ‘Transfiguration’ and Leondardo da Vinci’s ‘St. Jerome in the Wilderness’. A must-see for any Renaissance art lover..

Written on July 9th, 2016 by Kevin Olega