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The vatican city is the smallest sovereign country of the world since 1929 and it is the most visited place in Rome with around 10.000 visitors a day.
Enormous collections of art are gathered and preserved by the Holy See. The vatican museums are the longtime result of the patronage of the popes in art, their private donations, and the fact that the vatican became the gathering place of the very best of artists and artisans.
Popes had been collecting art for centuries, but the actual organizing of a museum was not undertaken until the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV ( 1740- 1758 ), who began the Museum of Christian Antiquities with a magnificent collection of ivory, bronze, glass, and textiles mostly found in the catacombs.
The origins of the Vatican museums are traced to two acts of papal goodwill. The first was in 1471 when Sixtus IV, a member of the wealthy Della Rovere family, gathered part of his private collection of sculpture and placed it on display in the capitoline palace for the enjoyment of the Romans.
The second was under Sixtus's nephew, Julius II ( 1503-1513), patron of Michelangelo and Bramante: he created a sculpture exhibit in the courtyard of the Belvedere palace that included the famed Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoon group.
Today, the vatican museums are under the jurisdiction of the general Administration of the Pontifical monuments, Museums, and Galleries of the Holy See.
The building housing the collection were originally papal palaces built for several renaissance popes such as Julius II and Innocent VIII, making the settings of the art as interesting and historically significant as the collections they house.
At the end of the vatican museums galleries you will reach the Sistine Chapel, the most famous of the 2000 rooms composing the vatican city.
Built in 1475-1481, the Sistine Chapel stands over the foundations of an earlier papal chapel and the architect of this new structure was the florentine Baccio Pontelli. It is worth noting that the exterior of the sistine chapel is fortified, and the thick walled rooms over the vaults were designed for military purposes.
The chapel relates to the solemnity and historic significance of the papacy and it is, first of all, built according to the proportions of Solomon's temple as described in the Book of the Kings: the lenght is twice its height and three times its width.
Not only does it contain Michelangelo's epic ceiling depiction of creation, fall, and redemption, but there is a brilliant series of earlier renaissance frescoes by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and others painted before the giant enterprise of Michelangelo.
Inside you can admire also the Last Judgement, painted by Michelangelo at the age of 60 years old.
The purely architectural parts of the framework are mostly painted to look like marble, but much of the edifice Michelangelo has imagined, is an architecture of supporting or assisting human bodies. Infant caryatids hold aloft panels carrying the names of each prophet and sibyl.
Stil today, as we saw last April 2005, the Sistine Chapel houses the conclaves of cardinals that elect the pope.
The last part of the tour is focused on saint Peter's basilica, the biggest church in the world.
Saint Peter's basilica stands over a small underground shrine called the "Trophy of Gaius". Sections of the floor were removed to reveal an ancient roman cemetery, discovered in 1939.
According to the Roman catholic tradition, the shrine is also the burial place of saint Peter, the first pope, who died crucified upside down during the first christian persecutions ordered by the roman emperor Nero in the year 69 AD. Early in the fourth century, the emperor Constantine ordered a church, called " basilica", built over the shrine in honor of the saint, apostle of Jesus and first martyr of Rome.
Over the next 1.200 years, the basilica gradually fell to ruins; in 1506, during the height of the Renaissance, pope Julius II decided to rebuild this symbol of Christian faith. Firs, he ordered the ruins torn down, then, upon reconsideration, he called together some Italy's best artists, like Raphael and Michelangelo, to help design and rebuilt it.
Bernini gave to saint Peter the actual and magnificent aspect building the colonnade ( 287 columns ) in saint Peter's square, the bronzed canopy over the main central altar and the bronzed throne of saint Peter located in the round apse at the end of the basilica.
VATICAN MUSEUM WALKING TOUR ITINERARY ( 3 hours )
PRIVATE TOUR
TIPS: we have decided to operate the private vatican museum tour in the early afternoon for our customers because the management of the vatican unfortunately has decided to allow entering only groups from 8.00 am to 10.00 am and the rest of the visitors without reservation from 10.00 am. This means that thousands of people will be in hurry to enter in the morning, all at the same time.We apologize for any inconvenience you may have but the situation of the line in the vatican museum is worsening every year, so we want our customers feel more comfortable sightseeing the Vatican city with us better in the afternoon.
THE PRICE INCLUDES
THE PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE
SPECIFICATIONS
THE PROBLEM OF THE LINE AT THE VATICAN MUSEUMS
THE VATICAN MUSEUMS ARE CLOSED ON SUNDAYS
THE LINE TO ENTER THE VATICAN IS CALCULATED IN AROUND 30 MINUTES EVERY DAY, NO MATTER AT WHAT TIME YOU DECIDE TO GO : THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE PRESENCE OF METAL DETECTOR DEVICES AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE VATICAN MUSEUMS DOES NOT ACCEPT RESERVATIONS FOR THE INDIVIDUALS AS WELL DOES NOT PRESALE TICKETS IN ADVANCE.