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
