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If we made an effort to just list the names of the many galleries and museums that make up the complex of buildings called the Vatican Museums, that would fill many pages. And if we took the next step - to list all of the artists and great art works held in those buildings - that would fill books. In fact, the Vatican itself has filled volumes with such information at the Vatican library.

It was Pope Julius II who in 1506 started the Vatican’s collection of great art with his purchase of the sculpture Laocoon and his sons as they battle a mighty sea creature. From there, the Vatican collection has grown to dozens of galleries and museums and to literally thousands of works of fine art.

For example, established in 1837, the Etruscan Museum is actually a fairly late inductee into the Vatican Museums and it is devoted to preserving and displaying art works that were excavated in southern Etruria and surrounding vicinities. The mosaics, art work and ancient sarcophagi resemble the great works of art from the Roman Empire that are held in the Egyptian Museum.

Another wonderful collection is the Gallery of Tapestries which consists of wall hangings from the fifteenth century forward to the seventeenth century. The first time these weaves were put on display was in 1814 and their artistry is so exquisite that any great museum in the world would welcome them to their collections.

Just as unique in the family of art collections in the Vatican Museums is the Gallery of Maps which earned that name for the works painted directly on the walls of the building. There you can find 40 diverse panels that depict different regions of the planet and which all go together to make a complete map of the world for its time period. Before navigators had access to GPS devices or satellite technology, these kinds of maps were life or death to an explorer finding his way and the Church depended on them to guide the explorers that were sent out to discover the world.

There is no doubt that the Raphael Rooms stand out as an outstanding part of the Vatican Museums collection. The rooms are arranged into four separate enclosures that are connected and each of which displays the wide diversity of works by Raphael. It is interesting that the rooms are not named for Raphael’s art work but for the efforts Raphael contributed to decorate the rooms themselves when the rooms were built between 1447 and 1455.

An unimaginatively named museum is the Vatican Picture Gallery. But what is inside is far from bland as it is home to great works of art by great masters of the art world such as Van Dyck, Giotta, Poussin and Perugino.

How language is used may give you the wrong impression of what you will see in the Gregorian Museum of Profane Art because you will not find dirty pictures here. In the context of this being one of the Vatican Museums, “profane art” simply means that the subject matter of the art is not sacred in nature. This interesting collection was opened in 1970 to showcase Roman sculptures from the Republican and Imperial eras such as well as sarcophagi and things of that nature.

Three years after the opening of the Gregorian Museum of Profane Art, the Carriage Pavilion opened. The building is located under the Square Garden and it is used to display the vehicles that have been used over the centuries for the Pope and other high Vatican officials to ride in. Along with the many carriages you can inspect in the Carriage Pavilion, you will also find supplemental items like pictures of parades or times when Popes were in processions, as well as the harnesses for the horses and other support items that were used for upkeep and documentation of these vehicles.

But there is no question that the crowning moment of any visit to the Vatican Museums will be the time you spend in the world renowned Sistine Chapel, to take in the huge masterpiece that Michelangelo painted on the Chapel ceiling. As you gaze up you will know this is a moment you will remember for life. But don’t miss out on Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, which he came back and added to the chapel 20 years later.

That famous ceiling painting will fascinate you as it has thousands before. The nine panels of the painting show various biblical characters including various nude men, Sibyls and Noah himself. But it is that depiction of Jehovah reaching out to give life to man with a touch of his finger to Adam’s that is the best known image of this masterpiece. The famous author Goethe said of the Sistine Chapel artwork:

“Without having seen the Sistine Chapel, one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving.”

That poetic sentiment is a good way of summarizing the amazing art work that you will find in every building when you take the time to explore the Vatican Museums.

Tags: Travel Tips

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