The Vatican Museums

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We woke up early Sunday for our planned trip back to the Vatican Museums. After a quick subway ride into Ottaviano we were quickly heading south towards the Vatican and were a bit worried about the fact that THOUSANDS of other people appeared headed in the same direction. As we came to the Vatican walls we noticed the longest line I’ve ever seen in my life. We roughly knew where the museum entrance was and this line had to be about ½ mile from it and wrapping around the Vatican walls. Plus, in true European fashion, it wasn’t exactly a “single file” line. It was more of a 6-7 people wide mass of people all facing the same direction. I was a bit apprehensive (actually I turned and left) but my wife again convinced me she wanted to see the Sistine Chapel. We would later realize that the reason for the long line was that, on the last Sunday of every month, the Vatican provides free admission to the museums (thus waving the 14Euro fee). Thus everyone and their mother was in line that day to take advantage of the free admission. So, upon reaching the end of the line we waited…

And waited…

And waited..

A bit over two hours later we found ourselves in view of the doors. It was a long wait but we were almost there. We went through a very advanced security system and proceed to check our bag (they wouldn’t let us take my backpack) and headed into the museums.

Before going on, I just wanted to say I think everyone in the world should get a chance to see these museums. The most fascinating art and history I’ve ever seen are packed into these long halls. The Vatican has accumulated an ENORMOUS amount of art and wealth in these walls. I won’t go on a religious discourse about whether this is morally right or wrong but it is none the less a great experience to be able to visit.

We spent the entire morning wandering through the various halls and exhibits before finally making our way to the Raphael Rooms. The Raphael Rooms were the public entry areas to the private Papal apartments. They are huge and, in the early 1500’s, Stanzi de Raffaelo (Raphael) painted the ENTIRE interior of these four rooms (along with his assistants). You can find out more about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Rooms.

After the Raphael Room’s we proceeded to the famous Sistine Chapel. We didn’t take any pictures in the chapel itself per the rules (although many people were snapping away) but we were left speechless by Michelangelo’s famous frescoes. You can find out more about this legendary chapel here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel. Many artists worked on the chapel but Michelangelo worked on the ceiling alone from 1508 and 1512 (while Raphael was up the hall painting the Pope’s rooms). He then came back and painted the famous Last Judgment behind the altar between 1535 and 1541. This Chapel’s paintings are easily some of the most famous and most recognizable anywhere and we were pretty excited to grab a seat and just look around for a long time.

After leaving the chapel, we continued to wander through the museums for awhile before heading back out to tour Rome some more. We ended up hitting many more of the fountains and piazza’s and revisiting some of our favorites before heading back to the B&B to get ready for Lynda to head back to the US in the morning.

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