The Vatican Treasures

In the heart of Rome, the "Eternal City," can be found the world's smallest sovereign city-state, the Vatican. It covers an area of about 1 square km and is surrounded by the city wall which was built to protect the Pope. As the headquarters of the Catholic Church, it draws people from all corners of the globe to St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museums, and the Sistine Chapel.

The arrogant opulence of the Vatican is manifested in its treasures. The Vatican Museums are huge and it's impossible to see everything in one visit - even just for the highlights. Our tour started at the domed Quattro Cancelli area, near the entrance, and finished at the Sistine Chapel. Each gallery contains priceless treasures but for this tour, we focused on the Stanza di Raffaello, the Tapestries Gallery, the Gallerie delle Carte Geografiche (Map Gallery) and, of course, the Sistine Chapel.

The chapel's ceiling, which was painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti (commissioned by Pope Julius II della Rovere in 1508 and completed in 1512), is an incredible, neck-breaking piece of art! Its two most famous pieces are Michelangelo's Genesis, which is located on the barrel-vaulted ceiling, and the Last Judgement, which is located on the end wall. This is also where the papal conclave is locked to elect a pope. The conclave is one of the most significant functions of the Sistine Chapel. The frescoes down the middle of the chapel represent nine scenes from the book of Genesis, with the Creation of Adam as the best known. The wall paintings were executed by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, and Luca Signorelli. Michelangelo painted the Last Judgement over the altar, between 1535 and 1541, being commissioned by Pope Paul III Farnese.

The Map Gallery consists of topographical maps of the whole of Italy, painted on the walls by friar Ignazio Danti of Perugia, as commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII (1572--1585). This gallery is situated at the west side of the Belvedere Courtyard. The decorations on the vaulted ceiling is the work of a group of Mannerist artists (such as Cesare Nebbia and Girolamo Muziano).

For a more detailed view of the art treasures:
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/vaticano/0-Musei.html

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Vatican
• Museums
• Sistine
• Chapel
• Rome
• Italy
• Michelangelo
• Buonarroti

[Bruce99100]

Infinite riches in a small room

[ikeelyouall1641]

wat bout the starving children all over the world!!!

[journeyquest1]

The vatican deny 70% of Gods laws that were written on stone by the finger of God. How can they be chosen by God? Most of the wealth they have was tstolen by other nations. Just study history and get real.

[BaruachHaShem]

Wow, it looks like a Roman pagan temple. Humm

[Mrindeed]

Why was Beethoven's music chosen for this video?

[JPGiardina]

Such an incredibly beautiful place. Well done !

[73cupcake]

pinecone - pineal gland

[Domodeath]

Nice video emeritamanansala

[carlcproductions]

and as far as the whole adam and eve thing... Orthodox Judaism predates the Nag Hamadi AND Christianity... since both are offshoots of Judiasm I see no "coincidence" in that and find it rather funny that you think this proves anything. Any Christian will gladly tell you that their religion is VERY Jewish in it's roots. The whole entire story about why we need a Messiah comes from Judaism in the first place. It's called the JEWISH book of Genesis not the "nag hammadi bible" where we get this from

[carlcproductions]

in other words you need to come up with Gnostic writings pertaining to Jesus that predate the Catholic sources pertaining to Jesus. thus the term "christian gnosticism" as in those who believed jesus was the "christ" or "messiah". Without those sources my point is proven. what you have offered has nothing to do with what we're talking about