Vatican Museums

Wooo! Finally got to go to the Vatican today. The museums open at 9am and I got there at 8:40 to beat at least some of the line to get in. The map for the museum wasn't much more than a path to follow and the names of the many exhibits of which each category was considered a museum. Basically you just walked from one exhibit to another and there was tons to see! I spend just over 2 hours there and probably could have spent even more in order to fully appreciate every single exhibit. Here are the pics from this experience along with some captions.

the courtyard area before the start of the exhibits

pretty peacock fountain

There were so many ancient Roman (and Greek) busts and sculptures all in one place, which was very impressive. They are mostly all in very good shape.

bust of the warrior goddess Athena

a perspective on how long and large the exhibits were

Pretty views overhead. So many of the rooms that house the artifacts are ornately decorated themselves which really makes these museums the complete package.

coffered ceiling and an oculus, just like the Pantheon

a beautiful floor mosaic

detailed tribute to one of the popes over the doorway

another beautiful ceiling

One really cool and unique exhibit they had was the geographic maps room. One of the popes commissioned a cartographer to paint detailed maps of all the provinces of Italy on the walls of one of the halls. They are quite large and take up the height of the wall.

Corsica is one of the islands

Umbria is the region we stayed in for the first week

In case you can't read all that curly script, it says lago trasimeno

 This was very close to Perugia, so I looked to see if I could find it on the map...

...and there it is! Perugia on the left with the brown outline and the cross at the top left, and Corciano was even on there too! Its right in the middle of this photo.

a wall fresco with  a pope

an old shrine to the Virgin Mary

a view of the inner courtyard of the Vatican buildings, some of which make up the museums

in the Borgia apts, from the time when the popes from the Borgia family ruled

some epic wall battle scenes

Probably one of the things I was most excited to see in these museums that I had studied in art history: The School of Athens by Raphael!! They had a few 'Raphael rooms' although some of the later work was actually done by his students and followers. This Renaissance fresco reflects the 'philosophy' side of the room and in the middle are Aristotle and Plato.

a close up of Michelangelo

Also portrayed somewhere in the masterpiece: Pythagoras, Socrates, Euclid, and Ptolemy.

This is the opposing wall and represents theology.

The last thing to see was the infamous Sistine Chapel. Let me tell you I stayed a little longer in that room than any of the others. The iconic image of God giving life Adam through the touch of a finger was so awesome to see in real life and I had to keep telling myself that this was not from the textbook, but was real! besides the ceiling, there were several interesting wall frescoes including Jesus Giving Peter the Keys to the City which I had also learned about in art history.

All in all it was a very successful day and when I exited I bought some Vatican Post stamps with which I will send my many postcards home!