Have you ever dreamed of visiting the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope? Most likely not, since he was hidden from prying eyes for a long time. Now part of the palace is open to the public. So, we can visit it, only virtually, but the tour will be interesting. You will be amazed at the hidden treasures of the papal residence.
At the origins of construction
The Apostolic Palace stands on the right side of St. Peter's Basilica and is the official residence of the Pope, as well as part of the Vatican Museums. Parts of the palace - the Sistine Chapel, Apollo Belvedere and Rafael Stanzas - are parts of the Vatican museums.
The history of the building is long and not always transparent, so there is no exact information about the start of construction. Back in 500 AD e. Pope Symmachus planned to transfer the curia from Lateran to St. Peter's. In the immediate vicinity of the tomb of the Apostle, the whole landscape of church buildings, monasteries and churches grew. In the IX century, by order of Pope Leo IV, buildings were built to strengthen the Basilica of St. Peter. They received the name "lion city".
Construction period
The future Papal Palace was built in the period from the XIII to the XVII century. Since the XIV century, the residence of the Holy Father was already in it, but besides it there was a huge complex of buildings built in different time periods by different architects. Almost everyone who comes to power, the Pope made his changes and additions to the complex. Sixtus IV built the Sistine Chapel, Alexander VI created the chambers and the tower with his name. Julius II invited several well-known architects to expand the complex. It was not until the middle of the 15th century that Pope Nicholas V commissioned the architect Bernardo Rossellino to design the new Basilica of San Pedro and the artist Fra Angelico to decorate the chapel of Nicolin. He was the founder of the Vatican Library.
Designing a new palace building
The new building of the palace is designed by such famous architects as Antonio da Sangallo and Donato Bramante. The Apostolic Palace is expanding, connecting magnificent galleries with the Belvedere Palace, erected in 1490 near the Vatican. The courtyard of St. Damaz is surrounded by lodges created by Bramante, and then painted by Raphael and his students.
In addition to the papal apartments in the palace are chapels and offices of the Roman Curia, as well as the halls of the Vatican museums with numerous collections of treasures of paintings from different eras, sculptures and architecture. The palace complex consists of twenty courtyards, 1400 rooms and two hundred stairs. With an area of 55,000 m², it is one of the largest buildings in the world. The bronze gate at the end of the right colonnade forms the main entrance to the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.
Art treasures
Currently, part of the palace is not available for viewing. In it, in addition to the personal chambers of the Holy Father, there are various institutions, as well as an important governing body of the Holy See - the state secretariat.
The wealth of artistic treasures at the Papal Palace in the Vatican prompted popes to make paintings and sculptures available to the public by opening the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Library to the public.
And there is something to show visitors! Art collections were enriched and enlarged thanks to the treasures of the Roman catacombs, the works of the Basilica of San Pedro and San Juan de Letran, as well as archaeological excavations conducted on Roman soil. The land where the Vatican is located was occupied by the Etruscans, and then by the Roman Empire during the time of Augustus, so the finds in the excavations were interesting. Thanks to the Holy Fathers, museum exhibits were accumulated.
- Pope Benedict XIV in 1740 reorganized the new rooms of the Sacred and Profan museums, as well as the cabinet of medals.
- Under Pope Clement XIV (1769-1774) and Pope Pius VI. (1775-1799) Papal galleries were created.
- Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) opened the Etruscan Museum in 1837, which contains excavations from Etruria, and in 1839 the Egyptian Museum with excavations from Egypt. The Gregorian Museum of Profan (1844) was founded in the Lateran Palace.
- Pius XI in 1932 opened the Pinacoteca, where paintings were stolen by Napoleon and returned after the Vienna Congress (1815), and other works of the Vatican collection.
- Under the pontificate of Paul VI in 1973, a new collection of modern religious art was created in the Vatican.
Vatican Museums
The monumental entrance to the museums, which was opened in February 2000, is located on the north side of the Vatican near the old entrance made in 1932 by Giuseppe Momo with a spiral staircase on the ramp. The balustrade was designed by Antonio Maraini, it currently serves as an exit from museums.
Many tourists want to get there, but if there is no prior reservation for an excursion, you will have to stand a long line, which already at eight in the morning has a length of about 500 meters.
At the foot of the spiral staircase that leads to the Vatican Museums, there is an equestrian sculpture of Emperor Constantine the Great - Bernini's masterpiece. The statue depicts an episode of the war of Constantine with Maxentius. The Vatican Museums are not just a building or gallery. These are galleries and many rooms of artistic value belonging to the Church and available to the public in the Vatican. This is a place filled with art and history.
The origin of the Vatican Museums was based on works of art from the private collection of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere. When he was elected pope in 1503 with the name of Julius II, he transferred his collection to the Belvedere Palace. It was decorated with some sculptures, today known as the Eightfold Courtyard: Apollo Belvedere, Happy Venus, River Nile, Tiber River, sleeping Ariadne and a group of Laokuns and their children.
Currently, the Vatican Museums include several rooms with collections collected in them. Each is more impressive than the other. The Vatican Library, one of the best in the world, also belongs to this group of buildings.
Vatican Library
After the election of Nicholas V as Pope in 1447, thanks to his humanistic ideas, the Vatican Library became what it is today. Over the centuries, the library has been enriched with numerous bibliographic collections. In it 350 works were registered in different languages. Today, there are more than 150,000 handwritten volumes, more than 70,000 cards and embroideries, more than 300,000 coins and medals.
The library has a collection of rare ancient texts, the most important in the world, including the Vatican Codex, the oldest complete manuscript of the Bible. There are also incunabula, coins and medals, objects of art. More than two million books and manuscripts complete this gigantic picture. The large library hall - Sistino Salon, has a length of 70 meters, a height of nine and a width of 15 meters. Frescoes adorn the vault, and paintings tell of the triumph of the book and the rule of the church. In the windows you can admire the old important and valuable manuscripts, coins and drawings.
Pinacoteca
Also worth seeing in the Vatican is the attraction of the Papal Palace - Pinacotecu, an art gallery, a collection of paintings founded by Pope Pius VI. From 1932, works were exhibited there, the creation of which stretched from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 19th century. The collection has been replenished and continues to replenish through collections of pontiffs. In 16 rooms tapestries and Italian paintings are presented, mainly with Christian themes. The unusually valuable paintings by Venetiano "Maria Magdalene", Nicolo "The Last Judgment", Vitale de Bologna "Madonna and Child" are stored here.
The outstanding works of the Renaissance, the hall with the unsurpassed masterpieces of Raphael, the sketches of the great master Leonardo with his technique of compositional construction, the wide palette of artists of the Venetian school, the work of Italian masters - all this can be seen with your own eyes in the halls of the pinacoteca.
Yards
In the Apostolic Palace there are three courtyards, which together are considered Vatican courtyards.
- Cortile della Pigna (Pigna Courtyard) owes its name to the four meter long bronze pine cone known as Pignone. In Christianity, the pine tree is considered the tree of life, and its cones are considered symbols of resurrection and immortality. In 1608, Pignone was placed in the center of a semicircular niche in the courtyard of Bramante.
- Cortile del Belvedere (Belvedere Courtyard) was the center of the Vatican Museums and impresses with a large fountain in the middle of the courtyard. Initially, it was called the “Court of Statues” and was square in shape. Orange trees grew in it, between which statues of ancient gods were located. Later, when the gallery was added, it acquired an octagonal shape with four niches: Laocoon, Canova, Apollo, Hermes.
- Cortile della Biblioteca is the library's patio.
Other museums
The main attractions of the Apostolic Palace, its Vatican Museums, are the famous Sistine Church and four rooms of Raphael, open for viewing and included in the route through the Vatican Museums.
The Pio Clementino Museum is the most famous, named after two pontiffs. It is famous for its classic sculpture. Its exposition consists of statues delivered from all over Rome and its environs. Striking in its beauty is the collection of sculptures with the Sleeping Ariadne. The Animal Hall contains statues and collections of animal mosaics. There is a Cabinet of Masks in the museum, where murals with masks are presented.
In addition, in the Apostolic Palace there are a number of different museums and collections:
- Galleria Chiaramonti is a colonnade 300 meters long and almost seven meters wide, the collection contains about 1000 sculptures, sarcophagi and portraits of emperors - together with mosaics in the floor;
- Museo Pio-Clementino here are the sarcophagi of the mother and sister of Emperor Constantine the Great, there is also a gallery of statues and a hall of busts;
- Museo Gregoriano Egizio - the museum contains Greco-Roman statues;
- Museo Gregoriano Etrusco - contains a large collection of vases made in various Greek techniques;
- Museo Missionario-Etnologico - demonstrates the religious sites of Asia, Oceania, America and Africa, brought by missionaries from different continents;
- Museo Storico Vaticano - exposition and exhibits are dedicated to the long, stormy and exciting history of the Vatican.
How to get to the Vatican Museums?
To get to the Apostolic Palace, you need to know the address. He is like this: Viale Vaticano, 00165 Rome. Viale Vaticano-Musei Vaticani bus stop is served by bus line 49. If you are taking the metro, stop at Cipro. It is located about 600-700 meters from the entrance to the Vatican Museums.