Explore and Discover Vatican - Day 03

City of Vatican
11 May 2015

Explore and Discover BASILICA DI SAN PIETRO | VATICAN MUSEUM | SISTINE CHAPEL.

Mondo Cattolico (Catholic World)

I considered my last day in Rome as the climax of my travel. I dedicated this day to explore and discover the gems of the Vatican City - the most notable is the magnificent Basilica di San Pietro, world's largest Basilica.

ST. PETER'S BASILICA

Entrance to Vatican City

I spent my last day in Rome exploring Basilica di San Pietro, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

Swiss Guards

I started exploring the Basilica at 0812H. I had fun taking shots at the main altar, the ceiling and the paintings inside the church. It was nice to see beams of light from the Basilica windows lighting up th interior of the church.

Facade

According to Wikipedia, The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or simply St. Peter's Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri; Italian: Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), is a late Renaissance church located within Vatican City.

Vatican City at Night

Classical Fountain

Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and remains one of the two largest churches in the world. 

Roman Clock

While it is neither the mother church of the Catholic Church nor the Catholic Roman Rite cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines. 

Basilica di San Pietro Interior

It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world" and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom".

By Catholic Tradition, the Basilica is the burial site of its namesake St. Peter, one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ and, also according to Tradition, the first Pope and Bishop of Rome. Tradition and strong historical evidence hold that St. Peter's tomb is directly below the high altar of the Basilica. 

For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on this site since the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. 

Light Beams

Construction of the present basilica, replacing the Old St. Peter's Basilica of the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.

Altar

St. Peter's is famous as a place of pilgrimage, for its liturgical functions. Because of its location in the Vatican, the Pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Basilica or its adjoining St. Peter's Square. 

St. Peter's has many strong historical associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy, the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-reformation, and with numerous artists, most significantly Michelangelo. 

Main Altar

As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age. St. Peter's is one of the four churches of Rome that hold the rank of Major Basilica. 

Pieta

Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop; the Cathedra of the Pope as Bishop of Rome is located in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.

Read more

VATICAN MUSEUM and GARDEN

At 1004H, I bought a ticket for 21Eur from the ticket booth at the entrance of the Basilica. This ticket was for the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

The entrance to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel is at the rear of the Vatican City. There was a long queue of tourist at that time.

Before getting inside the building for the museum and the Sistine Chapel, I explored the Vatican gardens. I was amazed at the rotating globe at the middle of the square.

According to Wikipedia, The Vatican Museums (Italian: Musei Vaticani) are the museums of the Vatican City and are located within the city's boundaries. They display works from the immense collection built up by the Popes throughout the centuries including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world.

Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century. The Sistine Chapel with its ceiling decorated by Michelangelo and the Stanze della Segnatura decorated by Raphael are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums. In 2013, they were visited by 5.5 million people, which combined makes it the 5th most visited art museum in the world.

There are 54 galleries, or salas, in total, with the Sistine Chapel, notably, being the very last sala within the Museum.

Read more

SISTINE CHAPEL

The passage to the Sistine Chapel is a long narrow corridor. 

Vatican Museum/Passage to Sistine Chapel

The ceiling is painted with biblical figures. I walked through corridors passing through several doors and then finally reaching the Sistine Chapel.

Fresco at the Ceiling

I was completely blown-out looking at the paintings on the ceiling and walls of the Sistine Chapel. The works of Michael Angelo.

Winding Stairway

According to Wikipedia, The Sistine Chapel (Latin: Sacellum Sixtinum; Italian: Cappella Sistina) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna, the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1477 and 1480. Since that time, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today it is the site of the Papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected. The fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescos that decorate the interior, and most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment by Michelangelo.

Sistine Chapel
Image source: http://shotbyanangel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/WebSisteenChapOn.jpg

During the reign of Sixtus IV, a team of Renaissance painters that included Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Roselli, created a series of frescos depicting the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ, offset by papal portraits above and trompe l’oeil drapery below. These paintings were completed in 1482, and on 15 August 1483 Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel for the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Between 1508 and 1512, under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling, a masterpiece without precedent, that was to change the course of Western art. In a different climate after the Sack of Rome, he returned and between 1535 and 1541, painted The Last Judgement for Popes Clement VII and Paul III. The fame of Michelangelo's paintings has drawn multitudes of visitors to the chapel, ever since they were revealed five hundred years ago.

Read more

I ended my tour in Rome at the Sistine Chapel.

I was completely amazed at Rome. The experience that I had was beyond my expectation. Rome indeed is a romantic, majestic and an amazing city!

Grazie mille , Roma. Ci vediamo!

--o0o--

Majestic Rome
Explore and Discover Rome - Day 01
Explore and Discover Rome - Day 02