Europe Trip: Italy > Rome - VATICAN CITY! (feat. St Peter Square, Vatican Museum...04/06/07)

Reaching Vatican City soon...can see the dome of St. Peter's Basilica from afar? :)Vatican City, officially State of the Vatican City (Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae; Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano), is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. At approximately 44 hectares (108.7 acres), it is the smallest independent state in the world. [taken from Wikipedia]St. Peter's BasilicaSt. Peter's Square

According to my tour guide, the present Pope stays in the room whose window is located on the upper row, third one from the right. Every Sunday morning he will wave down to the crowd from his window and giving them his greetings for the day.

To cut short the 2-hour (or more) queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica and Sistine Chapel, I joined an on-the-spot tour which was looking for customers then. This kind of tour group is organised by the local individuals who are NOT under any of the Vatican Museum or St. Peter's management but just outsiders. They hired people who studies or know the chapels well enough to be tour guide, get a license to be able to travel within St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum, and lias with the staff in those places to offer discounted group tickets.

How this group earned is that they will charge any interested tourists who does not want to waste time queueing up for hours (the longest queue I have ever seen among all the other places I visited in Europe) at a slightly higher price. For my case, I paid EUR49 for the approx 3-hour package which includes admissions to Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica, plus an English-speaking tour guide. If you calculate the total amount needed to pay on your own, it will also add up to about EUR 35 for all the admission fees and rental fees of audio guide.

Paying a bit more to save 2 hours to queue up and have a tour guide to answer your personal questions and highlight the important things to look out for in those chapels and museum...don't you think it is quite worth it? :P

Gelato, originated from Italy, is the most popular ice cream worldwide. This ice cream store near the Vatican Museum is awarded to be one of the top 5 ice cream in Rome. I can't really tell if this is true but judging by the crowded store, the newspaper clippings inside, the huge scoop of ice cream at low cost, and the smoothness and freshness of the ice cream...well it definitely worth every penny and time spent in queueing up for it! :DEven paying for the tour doesn't guarantee a queue-free way to get into the places. The only priviledge we get is that we just need to queue up for one place instead of two -- the Vatican Museum. From there, we will have the access to Sistine Chapel as well as St. Peter's Basilica. Unlike the public, they will have to queue up for Vatican Museum AND again for St. Peter's Basilica to access to all three places...so sometimes you must think twice ya? *wink*Finally the Vatican Museums!The Vatican Museums (Musei Vaticani) are the public art and sculpture museums in the Vatican City, which display works from the extensive collection of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Julius II founded the museums in the 16th century. The Sistine Chapel and the Stanz della Segnatura decorated by Raphael are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums. As of November 2006, it was visited by more than 4,000,000 people for the year.The garden of Vatican MuseumBefore we get started to tour around the place, our tour guide has to go through the history of the great arts of both Vatican Museum, Raphael's Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. One reason for this is being silence is supposed to be observed as we enter the place that is deemed holy. Another reason is that there is total restriction on taking of photos and that, especially for Sistine Chapel, the place will be too crowded or the group will be too distracted by the great art that you will not have the time to do all those explanations.

Well, I confess the anticipation gets me really all excited about this whole tour! :DDRoman sculpture, tombstones, and inscriptions are pretty much everywhere as you can see for yourself here...Maybe you will get sick of seeing the same things over and over again, but to think that there were man who can create such great pieces of art in those times, you certainly will learn to be much more appreciative. :)The ancient Europeans, like the French, had once loved Egyptian arts very much as well. It is not hard to find pieces of them in the European museum still. Here're two guardian statues guardian the tomb of someone great in the past here...Every part of here is made of marble and precious stones. Sometimes the question just came into my mind: Would you be happier to be buried in a tomb that is so grand, or would you rather be buried somewhere quiet but at least you won't be displayed to the eyes of the public?This is one VERY special statue that I have ever seen so far...want to know why?Look carefully at their eyes!

They are made of a shinny white and black stone that make them look like real...or even scarier at night if they ever reflects any light in the dark...The gallery of sculptures and statues......the ceiling of marvellous paintings and artworks......the arch of the doorway exquisitely decorated with marbles and stones and gold and silver......or the gallery of weave cloth paintings...or so the correct name for these are what makes such a museum worth going isn't it?

The creator of this cloth painting purposely used the striking red strings to weave the image of Jesus so that he can be recognised immediately by the viewers as he addressed the crowd. This is certainly not just required skills...but absolutely great wisdom too... d(,")b

Europe Trip: Italy > Rome - VATICAN CITY! (feat. Raphael's Rooms, Sistine Chapel...04/06/07)

Gallery of MapsThe decorations on the vaulted ceiling is the work of a group of Mannerist artists (such as Cesare Nebbia and Girolamo Muziano). The Gallery of Maps is situated at the west side of the Belvedere Courtyard. It is 120 m long. It took Ignazio Danti three years (1580–1583) to complete the 40 panels. Topographical maps of the whole of Italy, painted on the walls by friar Ignazio Danti of Perugia, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585).

It may not be tough to produce such a world map, or even better ones these days. But to think back in time...how would you be able to draw them without any assistance of the advanced science technology?We finally coming to the end of the Vatican Museum and soon we will be heading for the Raphael Rooms...I just like to stare up at the ceilings of the European churches and museums...they are amazing!Looking out the passage to the Raphael Rooms...the courtyard of Vatican Museum is probably the only place you don't get to see the huge crowd around.

At last...the Raphael Rooms!

The four Stanze di Raffaello ("Raphael's rooms") in the Palace of the Vatican form a suite of reception rooms, the public part of the papal apartments. They are famous for their frescoes, painted by Raphael and his workshop. Together with Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, these are the grand fresco sequences that mark the High Renaissance in Rome.The Stanze, as they are invariably called, were originally intended as a suite of apartments for Pope Julius II. He commissioned Raphael, at the time a relatively young artist from Urbino, and his studio in 1508 or 1509 to redecorate the existing interiors of the rooms entirely. It was possibly Julius' intent to outshine the apartments of his predecessor (and rival) Pope Alexander VI, as the Stanze are directly above Alexander's Borgia Apartment. They are on the third floor, overlooking the south side of the Belvedere Courtyard.Ceiling fresco from the Stanza della SegnaturaEvery part of the Stanze are paintings after paintings...best is to surf the net if you want to know more about them as it is hard to tell the difference there -- they are all amazing. Every picture there tells a story from the bible too, some being factual while others are under the imagination of the painters.Don't remember what room this is but it is rather the most spacious hall there...most likely to be used in the past for functional purpose and some of the important ceremonies.Raphael Rooms are linked to the Sistine Chapel by a long staircase and corridor. A few more sculptures created in the modern times can be found here.Leading down this staircase is to the piazza outside the St. Peter's Basilica where the Pope will be at if there is an event. It looks formal, mysterious...and even a little kind of spooky...hee...lol

And here we are...the SISTINE CHAPEL!

[The two photographs (above & below) are totally restricted.]

I took them at risk because photo taking is strictly not allowed inside the Sistine Chapel. But I admit I give in to that temptation as I saw many others doing the same thing inside the crowded room. It is also used to be one of my dream to come to Sistine Chapel because the two things:

1. Sistine Chapel ceilings where the most famous picture (above, centre):

"The Creation of Adam".

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is one of the most renowned artworks of the High Renaissance. As a Christian, it is one place you certainly doesn't want to miss. Why?

The subject matter of the ceiling is the doctrine of humanity's need for Salvation as offered by God through Jesus.

In other words, the ceiling illustrates that God made the World as a perfect creation and put humanity into it, humanity fell into disgrace and was punished by death, and by separation

from God. God sent Prophets and Sybils to tell humanity that the Saviour or Christ, Jesus would bring them redemption. God prepared a lineage of people, all the way from Adam, through various characters written of in the Old Testament, such as King David, to the Virgin Mary through whom the Saviour of humanity, Jesus, would come. The various components of the ceiling are linked to this doctrine.

Even if you don't know the stories in the Bible, you will have a slight knowledge of it just by looking up at the ceiling here...WOW...

2. The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)

The Last Judgment is a mural by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. It took six years to complete. Michelangelo began working on it three decades after finishing the ceiling of the chapel.

The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse. The souls of humans rise and descend to their fates, as judged by Christ and his Saintly entourage.

Whether if the real judgment will look like what Michelangelo has protraited here, I believe one day this will come true for all of us. Looking at this painting, sometimes I wonder what Jesus will think of when he sees this...would he be smiling and laughing up there? Or would he give a pat on our shoulders and tell us how the real one is going to be like and remind us once again that we should be prepared and ready for the second coming of Christ?

I believe the Last Judgment on the wall is true to a certain degree...do you? :)

Europe Trip: Italy > Rome - VATICAN CITY! (feat. St. Peter's Basilica...04/06/07)

Walking from Sistine Chapel to our final destination for the day: St. Peter's Basilica. The narthex or entrance hall has three doors. The northern most entrance is also known as the "Holy Door".I may have visited over 10 churches in Europe but this one is the most majestic and probably one of the biggest ever seen. Giovanni Paolo Pannini's painting of the nave of the Basilica of Saint PeterSculpture of the Pope...I have no idea if he is the present or the past pope...

This is the holy church for the Catholic as very often the biggest Catholic events are held here.

Bottom centre: The tomb of Pope Alexander VII, by Gianlorenzo BerniniAnyone needs to make a confession? :PThe interior of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. I suppose the humans drawn above are referring to the saints... Bernini's "Cathedra Petri", Altar of the Chair of St. Peter and "Gloria"

Bernini's canopy The confessio Does the door lead the way to find the Pope somewhere else inside the church?

Another glimpse of St. Peter's Basilica.

Upper left: Saint AndreasLa Pietà sculpted by Michelangelo BuonarrotiStatue of Saint Peter

Doesn't want to leave...but I still have to go off from here...sooner or later... :(Hang outside facing the St. Peter's Square are four photos or paintings. One of them is the current Pope. He will be on stage here every Sunday morning to preach to the public...The facade of Saint Peter's Basilica Saint Peter's Square, or Saint Peter's Piazza (Italian: Piazza San Pietro), is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave within Rome (the Piazza borders to the East the rione of Borgo).After seeing many fountains and statues all over Europe, here is one fountain that is really flowing with water! (Most of the others are already dried up)

Mussolini demolished a spina of medieval housing to create an avenue, called Via della Conciliazione, leading into St. Peter's Square.

St. Peter's Basilica at dawn...I will miss this place.