The Vatican Museums, which include the Sistine Chapel, have to be seen to be believed. The amount of art and artifacts contained therein is simply astounding. Some of it was surely collected via dubious means, and much of it was commissioned by popes who were “lovers of art.” Of course, when you see how many sculptures and works of art were commissioned by the same handful of popes (and you know this because they often had their names inscribed or written on the work), it starts to make you feel that they were no different or greater than the executives of companies like Enron and Tyco—they took money that really wasn’t theirs and spent it on their own personal indulgences. It also becomes clear that they tried to one-up each other with grander works of art, and by having their name written on buildings that already have the names of other popes on them. Kind of a strange practice, if you ask me, but we did see it all over the place (one of the benefits of having studied a little Latin and some of the history of the Catholic Church).
In any case, the Vatican Museums quickly become overwhelming. There are so many sculptures, so many frescoes, so many paintings, so many tapestries, and so many beautifully decorated halls, chapels and galleries that it starts to make you feel like they were a dime a dozen back in the day. That’s sad, because especially in America, where few things are older than the late 18th century, we just don’t get to see these kinds of masterpieces.
In any case, one of the first things you see when you go in is the Vatican’s collection of artifacts from different places around the world. I don’t typically find this sort of thing interesting, because I like to see things in their original context. However, some of it was pretty cool, like this tablet of Sumerian cuneiform (if you remember your history, then you know that this was one of the first forms of non-pictographic writing ever created). I believe this was the only time I’d ever seen that.
Anyway, the pictures will give you a better feel for what’s inside than I could, so I’ll just post a bunch of them. Many of them are kind of dark because, as you might expect, flash photography is not permitted in many parts of the museums.
Before you leave the museums, one of the last things you see is the Sistine Chapel (I don’t have any photos of it because photos and video are prohibited inside), which really is incredible. The paintings are beautiful, and the amount of detail in them is truly astounding. One thing I learned inside is that there is a common theme of “keys” in many of the paintings. This was apparently done because papal authority was being challenged at the time. The paintings depict various scenes from the Bible, and show keys of authority being given from God to various biblical characters, with the intent of showing a direct line of authority from the Bible all the way down to the present pope. Anyway, one other thing about the Sistine Chapel that I found interesting was that it was much smaller than I had previously thought.
Following some bad advice from one of the guards, we left the Vatican and walked around the city wall to get to St. Peter’s Square (Piazza di San Pietro), which is where the pope frequently addresses the Catholic masses. This is also where St. Peter’s Basilica is located. It’s the largest church in all of Christendom, and again, it’s one of those things that has to be seen to be believed. It’s a beautiful church, and incredibly large. This is also another place where you start to feel like what the popes did was overkill. The art Is so incredibly and was obviously so expensive that it looks like they were just trying to show off. I’m personally not a fan of that.
St. Peter’s Square:
St. Peter’s Basilica:
Inside the Basilica:
St. Peter’s Square, as seen from the entrance of the Basilica:
Swiss Guards (the pope’s security force, and by tradition, all members must be Swiss):
After wandering around the Basilica for a while, we went inside the papal tombs, which are just off to the right of the Basilica. Photography wasn’t allowed inside, so I don’t have any pictures of the tombs. It was interesting to see the differences in the tombs, though. Some of the popes were buried in ornate marble caskets, and others were buried in nondescript chambers that were only marked by inscriptions (the recently deceased John Paul II’s tomb was like this). I suspect this is a good way to tell the difference between the more humble popes and the more worldly/ostentatious popes. Anyway, you could see people praying at the tombs of some of the more popular popes, like John Paul II. Most interesting of all, however, was the tomb of the Apostle Peter. Catholics believe he was the first pope, and they claim his remains are in the tombs. His tomb wasn’t called out as anything special, and I only noticed it by reading the Latin inscription.
Again, much of what’s in the Vatican City has to be seen to be believed and fully understood. It was a very interesting place to visit, and I would definitely go again and spend more time there.
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