The Vatican Museum, a museum of museums founded in the early 16th century, is not just a collection of exquisite and rare artifacts. Alongside St. Peter Basilica and St. Peter Square, the Vatican Museum is considered a must-see site in Vatican City as it offers many art exhibits for visitors. The collection includes over 70,000 artifacts.
The Vatican is one of the world’s largest and oldest museums, and there are many things to see in it. Of this huge collection of art and artifacts, 20,000 are displayed prominently in over 54 galleries inside the Vatican Museum. It houses extraordinary artistic rooms with significant historical and cultural values. Vatican Museum welcomes over 2.5 million visitors from all over the world.
All it takes to get to the museum is a general admission Vatican Museum ticket; you can witness this architectural beauty. If you plan to visit every museum and room on the premises of the Vatican Museums, it will take a whole day. So, if you are falling short of time, it’s best to stick around the most famous sites inside the museum that attract the most tourists. These are some of the most popular sites that one should not miss inside the Vatican Museums.
Sistine Chapel
Initially known as Cappella Magna (Great Chapel), the Sistine Chapel is notably the last room to visit inside the Vatican Museum. The frescoes decorating the interior of the room, particularly the ceiling, are the reason behind the Sistine Chapel’s fame. This beautiful artwork was painted by Michelangelo, an Italian painter and sculptor. The frescoes around the walls of the Sistine Chapel depict the stories from the lives of Christ and Moses. You must have ao explore this magnificent site and admire the beauty of the Sistine Chapel, the last room of the Vatican Museum.
Raphael’s Room
The Raphael’s room, commonly called The Stanza, is a set of rooms formerly intended as a suite of apartments for Pope Julius II. The fame of Raphael’s room lies mainly in the frescoes painted by Raphael, which depict Rome’s highly anticipated Renaissance art.
Collection of contemporary art
The contemporary art collection inside the Vatican Museum comprises over 800 artworks, including paintings, sculptures, and graphic art by over 250 international artists. The collection’s artifacts date from the 19th to the early 20th centuries, and you might be surprised to know that it took ten years to compile them.
Pio Clementino Museum
The Pio Clementino Museum exhibits the pontifical collection of classical sculptures, which dates back to Pope Julius II’s original collection. This collection results from excavations in Rome and Lazio and donations from collectors and antiquaries. The Treaty of Tolentino in 1797 made the papal states give up the museum’s masterpieces, handing them over to Napoleon. However, after Napoleon’s defeat, much of this artwork was restored.
Jewish Lapidarium
The Jewish Lapidarium’s collection inside the Vatican Museum consists of around 200 inscriptions found during the excavation of the Jewish catacombs of Monteverde. The catacombs, which date back to the 17th century, were undiscovered until the start of the 20th century. The inscriptions excavated from the catacombs offer in-depth knowledge of the Roman Jewish community between the third and fourth centuries. The Lapidarium is considered an essential Vatican collection of ancient inscriptions.
Famous Exhibits to Look Inside Vatican Museum
Apart from the Vatican Museum’s grand halls, it also houses some of the most extensive collections of ancient artifacts. Some of those are listed below:
Bramante Staircase
This iconic spiral staircase was designed initially by Bramante and later by Italian architect Giuseppe Momo in 1932. It is a replica of the original Bramante staircase built in 1505, inspired by its double helix design. This double helix design is intended for the stairs to maintain an uninterrupted passage in both directions without crossing each other. However, these stairs are now used to exit from the Vatican Museum.
Raphael’s Transfiguration
Raphael’s The Transfiguration is a masterpiece and one of the most iconic paintings on display in the Pinacoteca Apostolica Museums. The Transfiguration depicts both Jesus’s human and divine nature. In the dark bottom half of the painting, a boy (possessed) can be seen along with his frantic parents. People around them have stretched their hands in shock after realizing that faith in Jesus can cure the boy. The upper half is painted in light colors, showing Jesus flanked by the prophets Elijah and Moses.
The Pinecone Courtyard
The Pinecone Courtyard, also known as Cortile Della Pigna, is famous for its 13-foot bronze pinecone sitting at one end with two bronze peacocks on both sides. The pinecone, which dates back to the 1st century BCE, was found near the Pantheons, around the baths of Agrippa. It once was a large fountain, with water flowing from the top and running down its sides. It also represents the Pineal gland, the symbol of the Third Eye, The Epicenter of Enlightenment. It is a major attraction site inside the Vatican Museum.
The Laocoon
The Laocoon sculpture is one of the most important pieces of ancient art in the Vatican art collection. Dating back to around 30 BCE, it was found in 1506 on Esquiline Hill in Rome. The sculpture depicts Laocoon, the Trojan priest, and his two sons getting killed by two giant sea serpents believed to have been sent by the gods.
Porphyry bowl
The Porphyry Bowl is the largest one-piece stone bowl, a masterpiece from ancient Roman culture. Carved out from a piece of Porphyry, a hard rock, it has a circumference of 15 meters, making it the second giant stone bowl after the granite bowl of Lustgarten in Berlin. Pope Clement IX transported it to the Vatican from the villa of Pope Julius III. Today, it rests on the four lion’s feet upon a bronze pad at Sala Rotunda inside the Vatican Museum.
Apollo Belvedere
Apollo Belvedere is a Greek sculpture made of marble and stems that dates back to the 1st century. Found in the 15th century, this statue was once considered the most remarkable sculpture ever made and is now on display inside the Vatican Museum. It was also the first piece of art in the Vatican Museums’ collection, even before the museums were established.
The sculpture portrays the god Apollo as an archer who just shot his arrow. It was also Napoleon Bonaparte’s favorite sculpture, as he took it with him to the Louvre. The statue returned to the Vatican Museums after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Tapestries Hall
The Tapestries Hall, also called Galleria degli Arazzi, is considered one of the must-see sites inside the Vatican Museum. One cannot miss it, as the way to the Sistine Chapel crosses it. The roof of this hall deserves attention. It seems to be in 3D, but in reality, it’s painted.
Tapestries from two different periods and regions can be found on the walls of this hall. The left side of the aisle features tapestries depicting the life of Jesus, weaved in Brussels by Pieter van Aelst’s School. On the right side, Tapestries from the 17th century depict Pope Urban VIII’s life.
Featured Photo by Nastya Dulhiier on Unsplash