The chapel is a small church designed for members of the same family, residents of the same castle or palace. In Russian, the word "chapel" is sometimes translated as "chapel", but this is not entirely true. There is no altar in the chapels; some church ordinances cannot be held there. Whereas the chapel is a full-fledged church with all its attributes. The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican is the most famous building of this type.
History of creation
The Sistine Chapel was built in 1475-1483 by order of Pope Sixtus IV, whose name it bears to this day. This pontiff was a controversial figure. On the one hand, during his reign, corruption and bribery flourished, it was under him that the Inquisition was introduced, and the first public burning of heretics took place .
On the other hand, he became famous for encouraging the development of science and art. He moved the papal residence to the Vatican and did a lot for the restoration and improvement of Rome. On his initiative, a library and the world's first public museum were opened, and the Sistine Chapel was built to hold the most significant ceremonies of the Catholic Church. In this place and now the conclave of clergy is gathering for the election of the Pope.
Architectural solution
In the 15th century, powers between the religious and secular government were not completely divided; armed clashes periodically occurred. Yes, and ordinary parishioners, driven to extremes by prohibitively high taxes, sometimes decided to openly express their anger. In this regard, the Pope wanted a special refuge in the Vatican, where they could take refuge with their court in turbulent and troubled times.
Such a refuge at the request of Sixtus IV and became the Sistine Chapel. This building from the outside should have had the appearance of a fortress, and the interior decor emphasized the greatness and power of the papal authority.
To solve these problems, a young architect from Florence, Giovanni de Dolchi, was invited. He built a building resembling a bastion and supervised the internal painting work.
The Sistine Chapel is a relatively small building (its area is only 520 m²), rectangular in shape, with a high (height 21 m) vaulted ceiling. Its proportions, as conceived by Sixtus IV, resemble the proportions of the legendary temple of Solomon, the first temple in Jerusalem.
Interior decoration
In 1480, Sixtus IV invited the most famous painters of that time to create murals. Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Girlondayo, Luca Signorelli, Pietro Perugino and young Pinturico participated in the work.
It took artists two years to paint the walls of the chapel. The middle tier was occupied by images of scenes from the life of Moses and Jesus Christ. In the upper tier, in the spaces between the windows, portraits of the first popes were placed, from St. Peter to Marcellus I. The lower tier was traditionally left for hanging pontiff's regalia.
Above the altar was a fresco by Perugino's Ascension of the Virgin Mary. A star-studded sky adorned the ceiling. We know these elements only in descriptions, because a few decades after the opening of the chapel, they were replaced by frescoes by Michelangelo.
Plafond of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo
At the beginning of the 16th century, a crack appeared on the canvas of the Sistine Chapel along its entire length. Pope Julius II ordered to cover it and ordered Michelangelo, who was working at that time on the statues for the future tomb of the pontiff, to cover the ceiling with frescoes.
Michelagelo Buonarroti, born in the year of laying the Sistine Chapel (1475), in 1508 was already a fairly famous sculptor. But monumental painting was an unfamiliar thing for him. He tried in every possible way to evade this work, but Julius II managed to insist on his own. So, the famous Sistine Chapel got its finished look. Description, the history of the creation of frescoes has been the subject of research for many generations of art historians.
The central part of the ceiling is occupied by 9 consecutive plots of the Old Testament, among them “The Flood”, “The Fall”, scenes of the creation of the first people (Adam and Eve) and others. Along the perimeter of these frescoes, the author depicted prophets and sibyls, and on the sides of the vault - the predecessors of Jesus Christ. In total, more than 300 characters were depicted, who today conquer with their power and physical beauty.
Researchers still can not come to an unambiguous interpretation of these images. Some see them as a special interpretation of the Bible, others as a new interpretation of the heroes of the Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, others are convinced that Michelangelo presented the stages of a person’s ascension from a sinful primitive state to the stage of Tatanism and divine perfection.
Fresco "The Last Judgment"
22 years later, Michelangelo was again invited to work on the design of the Sistine Chapel. In 1534, Pope Clement VII ordered him to paint a wall above the altar. As a result, the Last Judgment fresco was created, which art critics call one of the most ambitious in the entire history of world painting.
This time the artist portrayed a man as weak and helpless in the face of imminent misfortune. There was no trace of the former faith in the greatness and beauty of people. In the scene of The Last Judgment, there is not a single life-affirming or admirable character.
Jesus himself is placed in the center. But his face is formidable and impenetrable. His hands froze in a punishing gesture. The faces of the apostles who surround Christ from all sides are also full of anger. In their hands they hold instruments of torture that do not portend anything good for sinners who have spread before them.
Late painting and restoration work
The Sistine Chapel is the greatest monument of monumental painting of the Renaissance. But later corrections and additions are important historical evidence.
The scene of the “Last Judgment” with dozens of naked bodies from the very beginning was ambiguously perceived by the clergy. It is known that Pope Paul IV ordered the disciple of Michelagelo de Volterra to cover the intimate places of the depicted figures with draperies, and Clement VIII did order the destruction of the fresco. She was saved only thanks to the intercession of artists. Attempts to finish clothes were also made in the XVII-XVIII centuries.
As a result, when at the end of the 20th century a group of specialists began restoration work, they faced a serious problem - which version of the painting should be restored. It was decided to leave the draperies finished by de Voltaire at the end of the 16th century, and delete the remaining edits.
After cleaning the frescoes from soot and dust, they again shone with bright colors. This made it possible to see the images in the form in which they were painted by the great masters of the Renaissance.
When answering the question of what a chapel is, it should be mentioned that this word is used not only to denote a religious building. A chapel is a place in a cathedral where there is a singing, musical or singing ensemble performing sacred music, or even a professional musical institution, such as the Academic chapel (St. Petersburg, 20 Moika Embankment).