Rome - Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel

After much debate, planning, rescheduling and juggling, a group of us managed to sneak in a trip to Rome to see the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel. We got up at 5 am, caught the 6 am train to Arezzo, and took the direct train to Rome, arriving at 8:30 am. We made our way over to the Vatican, and spent the morning waiting in line to get in. I spent the time mostly sketching people and some building details. By 11:30 we finally made it to the entrance! The museum closes at 1:30, so we had some serious ground to cover.


After paying, checking your bags, and wandering though a maze, we came to this lovely courtyard. We followed the signs to the Sistine Chapel, leading us into the door on the far left of the golden globe. We soon figured out that the 'Sistine Chapel' signs are a tease...it's acutally quite a while before you actually reach it.


The entry frm the couryard is filled with Greek & Roman marble busts and statues.


The Octagonal Courtyard follows the entry hall.


Laocoon sculpure tells the story of Trojan priest condemned to death by Athena for opposing the entrance of the Trojan horse from the Greek Army. It was excavated from the grounds of Titus' palace in 1506, and Michelangelo urged Pope Julius II to buy it. It is elieved to have been a copy of a bronze original from the 2nd century BC. The emotional force of the sculpture inspired many artists, especially Michelangelo.


The 'bust room' contained magnificent marble busts. The ceilings and the floors, however, stole the show in my eyes.


The varied colors of marble used in this bust amazed me.


Marble floors...I can't believe they let people walk on these!


The mosaic floors in the Vatican are stunning. this one was particularly intricate. (can't walk on it!)


As we were pressed for time, we decided to skip the entire first floor, and went straight upstairs for the tapestry room, map room, the Raphael rooms, and the Sistine Chapel. I was very excited to see the map rooms.


The ceiling of the map rooms.


Map of Italy..the lake is Trasimeno, just south of Castiglion Fiorentino.


The maps were stunning.


view from the map corridor out to the Vatican gardens.


The Raphael rooms were amazing. I had no idea that the pictures I studied in art history were acually massive frescoes covering the entire wall.


The colors were absolutely breathtaking.


OK, here's the undercover illegal shot of the Sistine Chapel! Truly amazing. The satanic snake in Adam and Eve's story has such amazingly vibrant colors that it really puts up a good show for center stage, competing with God giving life to Adam. And to think that Michelangelo didn't like to paint!


We stayed in the Sistine for a while, just staring at all of the frescoes. After admiring the cieling, I slowly began to appreciate the beautful paintings along the walls. Apparently the frescoe cycles on the walls were completed by Pietro Perugino assisted by Pinturicchio, Cosimo Rosselli, Piero di Cosimo, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico del Ghirlandaio and luca Signorelli.


View of St. Peters from the exit of the Sistine Chapel. At this point, I was completely awed. This was definitely worth the wait, but I do wish we had more time to really see everything. It was definitely a cattle hearding session inside the Vatican museum.


At the end of the visit, you walk down this beautiful spiraling staircase to the ground floor. Amazing. At this point, the group split up. Marissa, Sara and Kat went to St. Peter's, while Joel and I went to Piazza del Popolo to do some research for Joel's history project...peoplewatching.