According to nonprofitdictionary.com, the Vatican is known as the largest treasury of works of art. Especially for the popes, outstanding masters worked here, whose works are now an integral part of world culture. The Vatican also has unique collections of ancient Roman art. The most richly painted interiors of the Papal Palace. The world famous Sistine Chapel, which was built in the 15th century by order of Pope Sixtus IV. Conclaves are held here, during which a new pope is chosen. The best masters of their time worked on decorating the interiors of the chapel: Botticelli, Pinturicchio, Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Rosselli, Signorelli and Michelangelo. On the walls and vaults of the Sistine Chapel are frescoes with biblical scenes and portraits of popes. It is worth noting that the painting of the vault of the chapel was entrusted to Michelangelo, it took him 4 years. Also, Michelangelo painted the altar wall, the fresco “The Last Judgment” with an area of 200 square meters. m contains images of more than 400 biblical characters. Raphael’s famous stanzas are located in the Papal Palace. These stanzas were chosen by Pope Julius II for residence. The walls of the four rooms were painted by the young artist Raphael and his students, some of the frescoes were completed after Raphael’s death. Among other works of art of the Papal Palace, the frescoes of the Borgia apartments by Pinturicchio, the frescoes of the Niccolina Chapel by Fra Beato Angelico and the maps of the Catholic possessions and regions of Italy, which were made at the end of the 16th century, in the Gallery of Geographical Maps, stand out.
Collections of paintings can be seen in the Vatican Pinakothek. The museum was created after the paintings that had been taken to Paris were returned to the Vatican. Napoleon. The Pinakothek consists of 15 rooms, in which, in chronological order, paintings from different schools of the 11th-19th centuries are exhibited, including collections of Byzantine paintings. Interesting are the frescoes of the Vatican Library, founded in the 15th century. The interiors are decorated not only with the works of Renaissance artists, but also with works of ancient art. The funds of the Vatican Library include 1,600,000 printed books, 150,000 manuscripts, 8,300 incunabula, more than 100,000 engravings and geographical maps, 300,000 coins and medals. The halls of the library also display Roman and early Christian artefacts.
Be sure to visit the Pio Clementino Museum – Treasury of Vatican antiquities. Roman statues and copies of Greek statues are on display here. Among the exhibits, the most famous is the statue of Apollo Belvedere, which was copied by entire generations of Renaissance masters. Collections of ancient sculpture are also on display at the Museo Chiaramonti. Here you will see classic works of ancient art: statues, busts, reliefs and sarcophagi, as well as the world’s largest collection of Greek and Roman inscriptions of Christian and pagan content.
Other Vatican museums include the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, dedicated to ancient Egyptian art (statues, sarcophagi, ceramics, inscriptions), the Gregorian Etruscan Museum – the second most important Etruscan museum in the world, which exhibits archaeological finds of the 9th-6th centuries BC, which were found during excavations of Etruscan cities, Etruscan household items and ancient Greek vessels, the Historical Museum with collections on the history of the Vatican and the Gallery of Modern Religious Art showcasing the work of artists from all over the world.
Fans of history and educational recreation, in addition to the Vatican museums, will definitely like the museums of Rome itself. In the vast park of Villa Borghese, the Borghese Gallery is located, which contains a collection of European painting and sculpture, mainly from the 16th-17th centuries, the National Museum of Villa Giulia, dedicated to Etruscan art, and the National Gallery of Modern Art, consisting of 75 rooms. Not far from here is the Doria Pamphili Gallery with a collection of paintings, sculptures and furniture that still belong to the Doria Pamphili family. On the territory of the Baths of Diocletian is located the National Roman Museum with the largest collection of ancient sculpture in the country. In the Barberini and Corsini palaces are the rooms of the National Gallery of Ancient Art, where, in addition to Renaissance paintings, furniture, majolica and porcelain are exhibited. Also of interest are the Spada Gallery with works by 17th-century artists collected by Cardinal Spada, and the Museum of Rome in the Trasterve area.
