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| Museum of the Month |
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The Saint Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums
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| Saint Peter's Basilica |
St. Peter's square, one of the most beautiful and famous in the world, is surrounded
by Bernini's imposing colonnade that seems to "embrace" it with its 284 columns (1656-67). |
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Visiting hours:
Basilica, 7am-7pm (winter 6pm);
Dome, 8 to sunset. |
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In the center stands a 26-meter tall Egyptian obelisk from Heliopolis; at its sides
two beautiful fountains by Maderno and D. Fontana; everything is grandiose and at the same time extremely harmonious.
In the background, the massive structure of the Basilica with its gigantic façade (114 meters by 45). From
the year 1452, when B. Rossellino undertook the construction, many architects among the most illustrious of their
times contributed to make the new temple of Christianity the most majestic in the world: Bramante, Giuliano da
Sangallo, Raphael, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Michelangelo, Pirro Ligorio, Vignola, Della Porta, D. Fontana
and Maderno. |
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The new St. Peter's Church was consecrated by Pope Urban VIII in 1626. The vestibule
introduces to the 5 bronze doors: the last one to the right is the Holy Door, and it is only opened in occasion
of Jubilees. The interior, extending for 186 meters, culminates under the dome with the Confession Altar and the
Papal Altar (covered with the sumptuous bronze baldachin by Bernini) and the apse, aglow with golden mosaic. In
addition to many sculptures and monuments by Bernini and other great artists, do not miss to contemplate Michelangelo's
tender, touching "Pietà" (first chapel on the right). |
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It is worthwhile to climb up to the Dome designed by Bramante and Michelangelo and
completed by C. Della Porta and D. Fontana in 1589. |
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| Tesoro di S. Pietro Museum |
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Visiting hours:
9am-6:30pm;
Oct. to March, 9am-2:30pm |
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The entrance is from the interior of the Basilica. Of great historic and artistic
interest, it houses sacred vestments and precious objects offered to the Vatican Basilica. |
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Fine ciborium by Donatello; monument to Pope Sixtus IV by Pollaiolo: the "Sarcophagus
of Giunio Basso"; the Cross of the Emperor Justin II (6th c.). |
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| The Vatican Grottoes |
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Visiting hours:
7am-6pm (winter 5:30pm). |
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The Vatican Grottoes, underneath the Basilica, form an interesting monumental complex,
containing 2,000 years of historical, civil and Christian memories. |
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Among other exhibits: Early-Christian sarcophagi, remains of the ancient 4th-c. church,
works by Melozzo da Forlì, Pollaiolo, Arnolfo; mosaics (one attributed to Giotto), tombs of various Popes
and of the queen Christine of Sweden. |
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| The Vatican Necropoli |
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Visiting hours:
Open weekdays 9am -noon and 2-5pm |
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Below the Grottoes and basilica spreads a pagan necropolis with Christian tombs. To
visit the Necropolis address a written request to the "Ufficio Scavi della Rev.da Fabbrica di S. Pietro",
Arco delle Campane. |
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| Vatican Museums |
The astonishingly rich collections - a veritable citadel of museums - offer the opportunity
to follow every itinerary of art and history. Some departments sometimes are are closed for rearrangement or restoration:
scholars who wish to visit them may apply to the Direction.
We list below the sectors in which the museums are divided: |
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Visiting hours:
Open: 9am-2pm;
July, Aug., Sept. and Easter 8:45am-5pm;
Last Sun. of the month 9am-2pm;
for information call 06/6984613. |
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| Museo Gregoriano-Egizio |
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Important findings from ancient Egypt: mummies, sarcophagi, sculptures, bronzes,
steles,
Roman statues inspired to the Egyptian art (from Hadrian's Villa); also documentation on Mesopotamia, Assyria and
Palestine. |
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| Museo Gregoriano-Etrusco |
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Founded by Gregory XVI in 1837, it contains items from Southern Etruria and other
archeological material: sarcophagi, materials from burial chambers, bronzes, urns, architectural
terracotta, all
kinds of vases; Roman glassware; Etruscan and Roman objects. Also some Greek originals such as a beautiful fragment
from the Parthenon. |
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| Musei Gregoriano-Profano, Pio Cristiano and Missionario-Etnologico |
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These museums contain the most recent sections where the collections of the former
Lateran Museums are arranged. The Gregoriano-Profano
holds architectural fragments, mosaics,
sarcophagi, relieves
and other valuable items of the Greek and Roman period; in the epigraphy section there is the richest collection
of Christian inscriptions from the ancient cemeteries of Rome, Ostia and Porto). The Pio Cristiano houses Christian
antiquities from the catacombs. The third museum features ethnographic collections with noteworthy items from China,
Tibet, Japan and Polynesia. |
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| Museo Pio-Clementino |
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The museum displays a splendid collection of Greek and Roman sculptures; among them,
some of the best-known statues in the world: the "Apollo Belvedere", "Hermes", the famous group
"Laocoon" (late-Hellenic work by sculptors from Rhodes). "Meleager", "the Sleeping Ariadne",
"Wounded Amazon", the "Cnidia Venus", the "Belvedere Torso", a series of busts, sarcophagi,
reliefs, vases, mosaics and three statues by Canova. |
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| Pinacoteca |
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Started in the late 1700s by Pope Pius V the gallery features a huge collection of
paintings, mainly by Italian artist (from the Byzantine period to the 18th c., with special attention to Renaissance
and Baroque) and 10 remarkable tapestries manufactured in Bruxelles in 1515 from Raphael's designs. Here again
we find great names: Giotto, Lorenzetti, S. Martini, Daddi, L. Monaco, Gentile da Fabriano, Angelico, Filippo Lippi,
Gozzoli, Melozzo da Forlì (beautiful "Musician Angels"), Palmezzano, de Roberti, Crivelli, N.
Alunno, Perugino, A. Vivarini, Pinturicchio, Raphael (among other works, the unfinished "Transfiguration",
completed by his assistants), Leonardo, Giambellino, Veronese, Moretto, Vasari, Carracci, Domenichino, Caravaggio
("Deposition"), Reni, Guercino, Crespi, Titian. Also foreign artists: Cranach, Poussin, van Dyck, Ribera,
Lawrence. |
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| Collezione d'Arte Religiosa Moderna |
| Some 800 paintings, sculptures and graphic works, donated to the Holy See by artists
and collectors from all over the world: Goya, Morandi, De Pisis, Sironi, Modigliani, Rosai, Carrà, Soffici,
Matisse, Rouault, Gauguin, Utrillo, Chagall, Redon, Braque, Klee, Moore, Casorati, De Chirico, Munch, Campigli,
Leger, Foujita, Ben Shahn, Feininger, Nolde, Severini, Dali, Ortega, Bacon, Picasso (pottery). Among the sculptors:
Manzù, Minguzzi, Greco, Marini, Messina, Rodin. |
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| Vatican Palaces |
The palaces themselves form an irregular mass of three-story and four-story buildings,
built on long, plain lines and broken by additions and alterations. The papal residence and offices occupy the
portion near the colonnade, and the rest is given over to museums and the Vatican Library. |
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Visiting hours:
Open: 9am-2pm;
July, Aug., Sept. and Easter 8:45am-5pm;
Last Sun. of the month 9am-2pm;
for information call 06/6984613. |
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| Stanze di Raffaello |
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The Four Raphael Rooms were decorated by Perugino, Lotto, Sodoma and Peruzzi . In
1508 Pope Julius 11 commissioned Raphael to complete the works. The result is one of the masterpieces of painting
of all times. The scenes represent: "Fire in Borgo", "Dispute of the Sacrament", "School
of Athens', the "Pamassus', "Pope Leo stops Attila", "Miracle of Bolsena", "Heliodorus
banished from the Temple", "Liberation of S. Peter From Prison", famous for the effects of light;
after Raphael's death in 1520 the frescoes of the last ball were completed by Giulio Romano, the most renowned
of his pupils, and by F. Penni. |
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| Loggia di Raffaello |
| Raphael and Donato Bramante worked on the loggia, frescoed with "Scenes of the
Old and New Testament". |
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| Cappella di Niccolò V |
| You pass into the chapel of Nicholas V through the Chiaroscuro Room and Constantine's
Room. The enchanting frescoes by Fra Angelico depict scenes of the lives of St. Laurence and St. Stephen. |
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| Appartamento Borgia |
| The residence was named after Pope Alexander VI Borgia, who lived in it and commissioned
Pinturicchio and his pupils to decorate it (1492-95). The rooms are included in a complex of 55 halls where the
Modern Collection is housed (see below). |
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| Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel) |
| The Popes' official private chapel, where election conclaves are held, is a gem among
gems. Built under Sixtus IV in 1475-81, it owes its fame to the extraordinary frescoes that decorate it. On the
side walls the greatest Renaissance artists (Pinturicchio, Perugino, Botticelli, Rosselli, Ghirlandaio, Signorelli,
Piero di Cosimo) narrated the events of the "Lives of Moses and Jesus". In 1508 Pope Julius II commissioned
Michelangelo to fresco the chapel's ceiling. The result is "The Creation of the Universe" and the "History
of Humanity", a stunningly harmonious composition with myriads of figures, in a miraculous synthesis of plastic,
architectural and pictorial elements. Decades later Pope Paul III ordered the aged artist to decorate the wall
above the altar: between 1535 and 1541 Michelangelo painted the dramatic scenes of "The Last Judgment":
among a crowd of 293 figures, Christ sits as the Supreme Judge of Good and Evil. The incomparable ensemble, stemmed
from the Florentine's titanic genius, is considered by visitors of all times the highlight of their journey to
Rome. |
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| Other Galleries and Museums |
Galleria dei Candelabri
The gallery is about 80 meters long, it is subdivided by arcades from which hang pairs of candelabra; it contains
also Greek and Roman statues and sculptures.
Galleria degli Arazzi
Magnificent 16th-c. Flemish tapestries executed from Raphael's designs.
Galleria delle Carte Geografiche
The 120-meter long gallery is hung with interesting maps.
Museo delle Carrozze
Sedan-chairs, coaches of Popes and prelates, uniforms and documents of the pontifical army corps, the first automobiles
used by the Popes. |
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| Giardini Vaticani (Vatican Gardens) |
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Italian style gardens laid out in the 16th c., with thickets, lawns, fountains, artificial
grottoes. The beautiful fountains "of the Kite" and "of the Sacrament" are by the Dutch architect
C. Vasanzio; of special architectural interest is the splendid "Casina di Pio IV", built in 1558 by Pirro
Ligorio and Sallustio Peruzzi (two stucco-decorated buildings with columns and statues).
(for guided visits and reservations, which should be made some days in advance,
inquire with "Ufficio Informazioni Pellegrini e Turisti". Piazza San Pietro) |
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For more information:
Vatican Museums official web site |
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