Top Attractions of Rome: The Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel

Anyone visiting Rome should make a special stop at the Vatican. While it is known as the center of the Catholic Church, it is also the repository of one of the world's greatest art collections, something that often is not known about the Vatican. Housed in a labyrinth of galleries and palaces, the Vatican Museums contain some of the finest artwork of the Renaissance, including Michelangelo's famed Sistine Chapel.

Vatican Museums
Most travelers to the Vatican will be astonished at the long lines waiting to enter, but the rewards are certainly worth the wait. Miles of galleries, hallways, and rooms are filled with art and antiquities dating from the earliest of times. Just a sampling of what the Vatican Museums contain includes the Etruscan Museum, Gallery of Busts, Mask Room, Hall of Muses, Gallery of Maps, Apartment of Pius V, Tapestry Gallery, Octagonal Courtyard, and many others.

In 2006, the Christian and Ethnological Missionary Museums were restored for the Vatican's quincentennial. These often overlooked museums "are now for the whole world," according to Vatican Museums Director Francesco Buranelli. Within the Christian Museum's collection is a 2,000 year old piece of jewelry worn by an early Christian. Next door, one finds indigenous worship objects as diverse as pagan statuettes to a 16th century stone sculpture of an Aztec god.

The Vatican contains some of the world's most famous paintings and sculpture. In addition to the "Pieta" by Michelangelo, two of the most important sculptures in the history of art are here, the "Apollo Belvedere" and "Laocoon," which was found in 1506 on Rome's Esquiline Hill and is said to have been the most influential sculpture on Renaissance sculptors.

Raphael Rooms or Stanze
One of the most treasured sections of the Vatican Museums is the Raphael Rooms. Created by a then-relatively unknown artist named Raphael in 1508, these rooms were commissioned by Pope Julius II who hired Raphael to fresco his Belvedere apartment. The frescoes created by Raphael represent truth, goodness, and beauty, and marked the painter and his work as the start of the High Renaissance, as well as making him a rival of Michelangelo (who was then at work on the Sistine Chapel).

Sistine Chapel
The spellbinding ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo (taking four years, 1508-1512) is one of the greatest artworks of all time, and certainly the finest representation of art from the Renaissance period. This work of art almost never came to be, however. Michelangelo preferred sculpture and was working on a tomb for the Pope, when he was commanded by Pope Julius II to paint the Sistine Chapel's 135 foot by 44 foot ceiling. Michelangelo began with assistants, but soon rid himself of their help and eventually dedicated himself to the work, spending four years of his life completing the masterpiece. Later he was to add the powerful painting of the "Last Judgment" behind the altar.

Historian Marcello Simonetti expresses what many feel when viewing the Sistine Chapel, "My favorite place in the whole city [of Rome] is the Sistine Chapel. When people walk into the chapel, they are usually overwhelmed by the powerful ceiling with Michelangelo's 'Genesis' and by the terrifying altar with the 'Last Judgment.' Only later do they usually notice the frescoed walls painted by earlier masters like Sandro Botticelli."

For visitors to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, awe is a correct description. The range and depth of beauty is unmatched. No one who visits the Vatican will forget the experience or the stunning collection of artistic masterwork contained within.