Vatican Museum, Vatican City
Posted On July 14, 2010
Located in the heart of Rome, the capital city of Italy; is a sovereign city state with high walls bordering it and with an area of about 45 hectares. This state is a Monarchy which is headed by the bishop of Rome; the pope!
The Vatican city has the legendary ‘Vatican gardens’; which cover more than half of the city. These gardens have fountains and sculptures dating to way back in history. For these reasons and a whole lot more, Vatican city is listed a UNESCO world heritage site.
Art inspires a lot of people, some make it, others appreciate it. The Vatican museum is one of these well appreciated museums.
This museum has collected items that were relevant to the roman catholic church. All the way from the beginning of the early churches; the museum has kept these safe throughout centuries.
The museum was founded by Pope Julius the second long back in the sixteenth century.
The museum has a history of extraordinary stories. Once, Pope Julius had heard about the statue of Laocoon ( the priest who told troy not to accept the Greeks “horse” gift). He then sent the very famous Giuliano DA Sangallo and Michelangelo Buonarrot who went and inspected the sculpture. After getting their review, the pope bought the sculpture from the vineyard owner and embedded it into the museum. A month later, he had the sculpture modified by entwining serpents amongst the priest and his sons.
The museum has completed about 500 years in 2006. Earlier, the collected articles were all kept in an apartment until Pope Pius the eleventh started the construction of a proper building to house these articles. The entire museum has a lovely collection of paintings like Raphael’s- Madonna of Foligno, Leonardo’s- st Jerome in the wilderness etc.
Apart from the classical painters, the museum also displays work from contemporary painters such as Carlo Carra and Giorgio De Chirico.
Another part of the museum is the Museo Pio – Clemento.
This museum was built in 1771 by Pope Clementine. It mainly had art from the renaissance era. This museum was made larger by Pope Pius the sixth. Roman and Greek sculptures are found now in this museum. Also you the famous Sistine chapel is the 54th section in this museum.
Museo Chiaramonti
Pope Pius the 7th founded this museum and the name is derived from Pope Pius last name before his election as the pontiff. This museum mainly consists of large galleries and also exhibits statues. Famous statues like Augustus and the river Nile are exhibited in the Braccio Nuovo (new building). The World’s greatest collection of stone tablets and inscription are found here in this Chiaramonti museum.
Museo Gredorinano Etrusco
Pope Gregory the thirteenth founded this museum which houses a lot of archaeological artifacts and items.
Museo Egiziano
This museum has a superb collection of ancient Egyptian culture and articles. Papyrus (early paper), mummies and the famous ‘book of the dead’, can be found here.
Come And experience the wealth of culture, mystery and glory of the Vatican city and if you are not too blown away with awe then step into the Vatican museums and be inspired !
