THE VATICAN...and only the Vatican!

Our visit to the Vatican started out with a first trip on Rome’s metro - an easy subway to master, with only 2 lines A & B - that intersect at “Termini” - which is also the main train station. A third C line is underway, but with everything that’s constantly being found underground in Rome....don’t hold your breath for this one!
Fares are simple - with a single ticket costing €1.50 - that can be used on the Metro, buses or trams...it also lasts 100 minutes - with in and out privileges - as long as you’re going in the same direction. One, three and seven day passes are also available and tickets can be purchased at most kiosks, at some small shops and inside the metro itself. You cannot ride without a ticket.
The 25 minute subway ride took us to within a 10 minute walk of the Vatican and its museums. Line-ups were reasonable, the “selfie-stick sellers” & “free tour guides” were a nuisance, but we were in pretty quickly. With no tour guide or “skip the line” ticket, we paid extra for the audio guide and then we were on our own - to go wherever we were allowed to go - and to take as much or as little time as we wanted.
Like everything else in this city - it’s huge, and you can spend a lot of time there - we did. For an overview that moves along quickly - a guided tour is probably the way to go. So in no particular order (except for the Sistine Chapel which is at the end - sort of) :-
The Egyptian Museum contains room after room of artifacts and items that were either given to various Popes or found in Rome itself. There are stone tablets from as far back as 2,000 years B.C. - covered in hieroglyphics. We saw a wooden sarcophagus from Thebes that still had all of its vibrant colours intact - dating from 1,000 B.C. Statues of Pharaohs, a stone “head” from a column of Mentunotep II, the pharaoh who ruled in 2134 B.C. and pottery from the Middle Bronze Period in Syria-Palestine....all are in this large museum of many rooms.
We exited into the Hall of Statues.....a long gallery with a painted, arched ceiling that contained an enormous amount of huge statues - from Athena, dated 1st century B.C. to the Emperor Claudius, dated 1st century A.D.....there were lots of them! We made our way down one side and back up the other....at the far end we got to peer through a large (locked) gate, where down another endless hall there stretched a library containing over 3,600 “pages” which were written on stone, between the 1st and 6th century A.D......an understanding of Latin & Greek is needed to read these texts....the mind boggles! We gamely made our way back up the other side, where amongst others, we saw a huge statue of Tiberius.
The Octagano is a huge and beautiful open courtyard that is full of trees...and more statues! Originally a square room it was used by Pope Julius II (1503-1513) to house his private collection of masterpieces. The collection was expanded, the shape of the room was changed, and public viewing was allowed from the mid-18th century. With huge pillars and large arches that showcase the statues - we saw an enormous, reclining River God from the 1st century and a triumphant Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa - it’s a relatively new statue, dated 1801.
The Hall of the Animals is a double room, that was cordoned off...we just passed though the centre of it - but worth a mention as all of the small to medium sized statues were of animals!
Next came a room full of statues of The Muses, with a beautifully painted ceiling and statues dating back to the time of Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century. These statues were found in an archaeological dig during the mid 1700s.
Leaving Homer & Socrates behind, the next room included a statue of Emperor Claudius shown as Jupiter wearing a crown of oak leaves - not surprisingly (for him) he had it commissioned to decorate his own nearby villa. There was also a huge bronze statue of Hercules.....but the “star” of this room had to be the enormous bowl in its centre, plus the mosaics on the floor underneath it. Beautiful mosaics were also featured in the following room along with a decorated sarcophagus containing the remains of St Helena.
Most of the Museum rooms that we walked through were large enough to handle the amount of visitors there, but In certain areas and when large guided tours came through - the area was blocked for a while. At this point we found it easier to wait until they’d finished and moved on before continuing ourselves - admittedly patience is needed, especially when 2 or 3 groups are following right on the heels of the previous one! ***Tourist tip from a local (Valentina who picked us up from the airport)...the Vatican museums are the least busy at night ***
We did finally run out of statues - not really....but....moving on to other rooms full of priceless pieces....
The Galleria degli Arazzi was another huge hall - this one was full of large tapestries, mostly from the famous workshops of Brussels. A few of them were based on drawings from Raphael’s school...... one set of 3 depicted The Massacre of the Innocents - which although beautiful in its work, was quite a gruesome scene!
The Galleria del Carte Geografiche had one of the loveliest ceilings of all the galleries - barrelled plus highly decorated with richly coloured biblical scenes. The contents of this room were also impressive in their size and scope. Along the walls are 40 large geographical maps representing the Italian regions and its islands....they were commissioned in 1581 by Pope Gregory XIII.
The Sala dell’Immacolata Concezione - a room devoted to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception - deserves special mention for its frescoes, the ornate cabinet and the floor mosaics which were moved from Ostia....they’re over 2,000 years old.
We visited my favourite rooms just before entering the Cistine Chapel - hardly fair to put rooms containing Raphael paintings back to back with Michelangelo....but how could we complain! From The Room of Constantine through The Room of Heliodorus and to The Room of Segnatura we were stunned and mesmerized by the frescoes of this Master of the Renaissance. Commissioned by Pope Julian, the paintings in The Room of Constantine were completed by Raphael’s students after his death. Used for private audiences - the Room of Heliodorus was painted by Raphael himself. Perhaps the most famous of the rooms - The Segnatura - was used for the signing of official documents...and in this room is one of Raphael’s most well known works “The School of Athens,” and like his others it is stunning in its detail, movement and use of colour.
And so.....finally we made it to the Cistine Chapel...where entrance is understandably limited - and where tour groups often get behind schedule....but on this day, we walked right in and were able to spend as much time as we wanted. Along with no photographs, silence is also requested. The room is actually larger than I had anticipated and, along with the famous ceiling, is difficult to describe. From the entrance wall which includes The Resurrection of Christ to the stories of Moses on the South and the stories of Jesus on the North walls, all are covered in incredibly detailed paintings. False drapes are painted on the bottom part of most areas.....and....then there’s the ceiling - Michelangelo’s most famous and celebrated work. In May of 1508 he signed the contract and was in charge of the whole design and its execution. By August 1510 he’d completed half of the ceiling and on November 1, 1512 the Pope celebrated mass in this chapel ....the work was done!
Details, colours....the whole is a pretty overwhelming sight....let alone the trying to figure out the logistics involved!
We did wish that we, like others, had brought binoculars along with us.
Take a look on-line or in a book to see all the details and a much better explanation than I could possibly give....and if your are ever fortunate to go yourself....take along those binoculars!
There is plenty to see after the Cistine chapel...from very contemporary art and a bronzed cast of Rodin’s “Thinker”....but after 5 hours of wandering through the Vatican museums....we were saturated. Feeling Ike locals we joined rush-hour commuters on the metro and made our way home to the suburbs.