The Vatican Museums ( i musei vaticani )
Pinacoteca
Museo Chiaramonti
( Museum of
chiaramonti )
Museo Gregoriano Egizio
( Museum of Gregoriano Egizio )
Museo Gregoriano Etrusco
( Museum of Gregoriano Etrusco
)
Museo Gregoriano Profano
( Museum of Gregoriano Profano )
Museo Pio Clementino ( Museum
of Pio Clementino)
Stanze di Raffaello
( Raphael's
Rooms)
La Cappella Sistina (The
Sistine Chapel)
Museo Pio Cristiano (Museum of Pio Cristiano
)
The Vatican Museums are the true compendium
of civilization and the history of arts since prehistory
to modern day.
The Vatican Museums constitute a system of
museums and galleries established
in the historical buildings composing the complex
of the Vatican Palaces.
The
first real museum was established under
Pope Clement XIII (1758-69) who wanted
the Profane Museum to be organised with the
co-operation of Winkelmann.
Shortly
after came the Pio-Clementine Museum (1769-99)
and between 1807 and 1810 the Chiaramonti Museum,
which was arranged by Canova.
ln
1822 the Braccio Nuovo(NewWing) was opened,
in 1837 the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, in
1844 the Profane of Lateran.
At
the beginning of the Twenty-first century the
Ethnological Missionary Museum was established,
it exhibits collections of objects coming
from the several catholic missions in the non-European
countries, and also the Historical Museum
and the Collection of Modern Art were established
at this time.
The
picture gallery was opened in 1932.
Pinacoteca
The
several works displayed include the Stefaneschi
triptych by Giotto representing Christ
on a Throne surrounded by angels with scenes
of the crucifixion of St. Peter and the
martyrdom of st. Paul; the Madonna sitting
on a throne and Saints are featured at the bottom
of the painting, which is worthy of special
mention.
The
Fifteenth century paintings featured include those
of Beato Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli,
Masolino da Panicate, Perugino and Pinturicchio.
The room dedicated to Raffaello exhibits juvenile
works like the Coronation of Mary and
the Transfiguration of 1520, while the Italian
art of painting between the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth centuries is represented by the
S. Girolamo by Leonardo and the Pity
by G. Bellini.
The paintings from the Seventeenth century
which are worthy of mention include the Deposition
of St. Peter by Caravaggio (1602-1604) and several
works by G. Reni, Guercino and
Poussin.
Museo Chiaramonti
The museum id named after the family that
founded it.
It
is located in one of the corridors designed
by Bramante as a connection between the
Vatican palaces and the villa of Innocent
VIII.
Several
Roman sculptures are displayed here, those
worthy of particular mention are a statue
by Ganymede from the Imperial age,
a colossal head of Athena from
the Adrian age and a relief from the First
century AD representing the Three Graces.
Museo Gregoriano
Egizio
It
was conceived by the famous Italian Egyptologist
L. Ungarelli and it gathers sculptural
works and artistic handicraft from various
ages, including the colossal inscriptions of
Queen Tula the mother of Ramses 11, of the
king Ptolemy Philadelphus and his sister
Arsinoe 11, which are worthy of special mention,
in addition to sarcophagi, mummies
and elements of the funerary furnishings
and the material culture.
The
reconstruction of the sculptural decoration
of the Canopy of the Hadrian Villa in Tivoli
is also quite interesting.
Museo Gregoriano
Etrusco
It
was founded in 1837 by Gregory XIII and it
gathers various findings coming from the excavations
in southern Etruria, executed in particular
between 1836 and 1837 in the necropolis of Sorbo
by General Galassi and the archpriest
Regolini.
There
are funerary ornaments of very high workmanship
including some golden objects, a copy of
a chariot and the bronze remains of a
throne. Some sarcophagi, including one
representing scenes of the Atrides myth dating
from the Second century BC are displayed in the
museum, as well as one with scenes of the
Niobean myth dating from the Second century
AD besides the bilingual burial stele from
Todi, with Latin and Gallic
inscriptions from the Second century BC
Gregorian Profane Museum: it was established
in its current location in 1970, and it was purposely
built alongside the Picture Gallery.
Important
Greek originals are collected here, including, in
particular: three fragments of the Parthenon
in Athens, the head of Athena dating
approximately from 460 BC The section dedicated
to Roman sculpture offers among other things,
the Altar of the Vico magistri (First century
AD) and the two reliefs of the so-called Chancery,
representing the entrance of Vespasian in
Rome and the departure of Domitian,
both were discovered in 1939.
The Museum also has a section dedicated to
Roman copies and re-elaborations, among which
the bronze group of Athena and Marsia,
from the original by Myron dating from the
Fifth century BC and a copy of the Hellenistic
mosaic cited by Pliny, which represents
the floor of a room with the remnants of a meal.
Museo Gregoriano
Profano
It
was established in its current location in 1970,
and it was purposely built alongside the Picture
Gallery Important Greek originals are collected
here, including, in particular: three fragments
of the Parthenon in Athens, the head of Athena
dating approximately from 460 BC.
The
section dedicated to Roman sculpture offers
among other things, the Altar of the Vico
magistri (First century AD) and the two reliefs
of the so-called Chancery, representing
the entrance of Vespasian in Rome
and the departure of Domitian, both were
discovered in 1939.
The Museum also has a section dedicated to
Roman copies and re-elaborations, among which
the bronze group of Athena and Marsia,
from the original by Myron dating from the
Fifth century BC. and a copy of the Hellenistic
mosaic cited by Pliny, which represents
the floor of a room with the remnants of a meal.
Braccio Nuovo , It was designed in 1822 by
the architect R. Stern, and it hosts other
ancient scuIptures among which the statue
of Demosthenes, from an originaI bronze
from the Third century BC, the wounded Amazon
from the original by Kresilas from the Fifth
century BC, the Spear Carrier from the
original bronze by Polyclitus and especially
the Augustus of Prima Porta, from
an original bronze, discovered in the
villa of Livia at Prima Porta.
Museo
Pio Clementino di Scultura
It
is located in some of the rooms of the
Innocent VII palace, it gathers various examples
of ancient sculptures, among which the
Apollo del Belvedere, the Laocoon group
found in the area surrounding the Domus Aurea,
the trunk of Belvedere by Apollonius
from the First century AD, the Venus of Cnidus,
a Roman copy of the original by Praxiteles,
the squatting Venus, a copy of the original
by Boidalsas from the Second century BC,
the colossal head of Jupiter from otricoli.
The large porphyry sarcophagus of Constance,
daughter of the emperor Constantine originating
from the Mausoleum on the Nomentana road,
dating between 350 and 36oAD, and that of the
emperor's mother Helen, dating from the beginning
of the Fourth century AD and originating from
the Labicana road, are particularly interesting.
Stanze di Raffaello
These
can be reached the passage-ways of the Candlesticks
Gallery, the Tapestries Gallery and
the Maps Gallery, the rooms were built under
the pontificate of Nicola V (1447-55) and
they were later transformed into an apartment by
Pope Julius II who commissioned Raffaello
and his school, including Giulio Romano
and Giovanni Francesco Penni, to the
decorate it.
The four rooms connected to each other are
denominated as follows: the Constantine Room
with paintings representing the Battle
between: Constantine and Maxentius
at the Milvian Bridge, The Donation of
Rome, The Vision of the Holy Cross and
The Baptism of Constantine; The Eliodoro
Room features The Expulsion of Heliodorus
from the Temple, The Encounter of S. Leo
The Great and Attila, the Liberation of S.
Peter and the Mass in Bolsena ; the
Segnatura Room, which was entirely decorated
by Raffaello between 1508 and 1512 features
the following paintings: The Dispute over the
Sacrament, the School of Athens, the
Mount Parnassus, Trebonian entrusting
the Pandects to Justinian and Gregory
IX Approving the Decreta Is; the Fire in
the Borgo Room features The Coronation of
Charles The Great, the Justification of Leo Ill,
the Battle of Ostia and The Fire of the Borgo.
The Sistine Chapel
It
was built between 1477 and 1480 it is named after
Pope Sixtus IV of the della Rovere family
who ordered its construction.
The chapel consists of a large rectangular
hall with a vault cover, whose pictorial
decoration can be referred to three different phases.
The
first cycle of frescoes was painted between
1481 and 1483 on the walls of the Chapel
by Perugino, Botticelli, Rosselli,
Ghirlandaio, Pinturicchio, Piero
di Cosimo and Luca Signorelli.
The
series depicts the stories of the lives of Moses
and Christ.
The
second decorative phase dates from 1508-1512 and
was painted by Michelangelo in the vault
of the chapel with representations of the
History of Humanity before Christ.
A
special mention is due to the Creation of Adam,
the Exile of Adam and Eve from Paradise,
the Delugeand to several figures of Sibyl.
The
last pictorial phase was painted by Michelangelo
between 1536 and 1541 with the representation of
the great Last Judgement on the wall
above the altar, where the characters stand
out on the intense blue of the background with the
large figure Christ the Judge in the centre.
Museo Pio Cristiano
The museum was originally situated in
the Lateran Palace.
It
was founded by Pope Pius IX in 1854 as a
chamber for all the material from the excavations
of the catacombs and the early Christian
monuments that the then recently established
Pontifical Commission of Christian Archaeology
collected in Rome and its environs.
The guardian of the collection was De
Rossi who divided the museum into
two sections, one dedicated to inscriptions
and the other to sculptural finds; they include
countless faces of sarcophagi and the
famous statue of the Good Shepherd, which
is one of the most significant symbols of early
Christianity
Information and Addresses
Address Viale Vaticano, 100
Visiting Hours Mondays - Fridays: From Mar.
to Oct., from 10.00 am to
4.45
pm, from Nov. to Feb. from 10.00 am to 1.45 pm.
Saturdays: from Mar. to Oct., from 10.00 am to 2.45
pm, from Nov. to Feb. from 10.00 am to 1.45 pm (the
ticket office closes one hour and 15 minutes before
the schedule closing time)
Closed Jan.1-6, Feb.11, Mar.19, Easter and
Monday of angel, May 1 and 17, June 7 and 29, Aug.
15-16, 1 Nov. 8, Dec. 25-26
Telephone 06 69884341 - 69883860; Fax 06
69885433
