Vatican Museums

Vatican Museums
Musei Vaticani

Sculptures above the entrance of museums
Location of the Vatican Museums within Vatican City
Established 1506
Location Vatican City
Coordinates 41°54′23″N 12°27′16″E / 41.90639°N 12.45444°E / 41.90639; 12.45444Coordinates: 41°54′23″N 12°27′16″E / 41.90639°N 12.45444°E / 41.90639; 12.45444
Type Art museum
Visitors 6 million (2013)[1]
Director Antonio Paolucci
Website www.museivaticani.va
The Vatican Museums, north of St. Peter's Basilica

The Vatican Museums (Italian: Musei Vaticani) are the museums of the Vatican City and are located within the city's boundaries. They display works from the immense collection built up by the Popes throughout the centuries including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world.

Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century. The Sistine Chapel with its ceiling decorated by Michelangelo and the Stanze di Raffaello decorated by Raphael are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums. In 2013, they were visited by 6 million people, which combined makes it the 3rd most visited art museum in the world.[1]

There are 54 galleries, or sale, in total, with the Sistine Chapel, notably, being the very last sala within the Museum.

History

Spiral stairs of the Vatican Museums, designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932.

The Vatican Museums trace their origin to one marble sculpture, purchased 500 years ago: the sculpture of Laocoön and his Sons was discovered 14 January 1506, in a vineyard near the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Pope Julius II sent Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo Buonarroti, who were working at the Vatican, to examine the discovery. On their recommendation, the pope immediately purchased the sculpture from the vineyard owner. The pope put the sculpture of Laocoön and his sons on public display at the Vatican exactly one month after its discovery.

The Museum Christianum was founded by Benedict XIV, and some of the Vatican collections formed the Lateran Museum, which Pius IX founded by decree in 1854.[2]

The Museums celebrated their 500th anniversary in October 2006 by permanently opening the excavations of a Vatican Hill necropolis to the public.[3]

Pinacoteca Vaticana

The art gallery was housed in the Borgia Apartment, until Pope Pius XI ordered construction of a proper building. The new building was inaugurated on October 27, 1932.[4] The designer was Luca Beltrami. The museum has paintings including:

Collection of Modern Religious Art

The Collection of Modern Religious Art houses paintings and sculptures from artists like Carlo Carrà and Giorgio de Chirico.

Sculpture museums

The group of museums includes several sculpture museums surrounding the Cortile del Belvedere.

Museo Pio-Clementino

Photo of a gallery in the museum. It is in the Classical style and has a wide arched roof with skylights. The colour scheme is blue-grey and white with a polychrome marble floor. The walls of each side of the gallery have a row of large niches in which stand marble statues. Between the niches are plinths supporting smaller portrait sculptures.
The New Wing, Braccio Nuovo built by Raffaele Stern
A marble statue of the Emperor Augustus. He stands with one arm raised as if in command. Augustus is depicted as a man of about thirty five, with short hair and clean shaven. He wears Roman military uniform of a breast plate, leather accoutrements and a cloak over a short tunic. The breastplate is decorated with symbolic figures. As a work of art, the statue displays high technical mastery.
The Prima Porta Augustus

Pope Clement XIV founded the Pio-Clementino museum in 1771, and originally it contained the Renaissance and antique works. The museum and collection were enlarged by Clement's successor Pius VI. Today, the museum houses works of Greek and Roman sculpture. Some notable galleries are:

Tourists observing one of the Vatican art gallery.

Museo Chiaramonti

This museum is named after Pope Pius VII (whose last name was Chiaramonti before his election as pope), who founded it in the early 19th century. The museum consists of a large arched gallery in which sides are exhibited several statues, sarcophaguses and friezes. The New Wing, Braccio Nuovo built by Raffaele Stern, houses important statues like The Prima Porta Augustus, Doryphorus, and The River Nile. Galeria Lapidaria is another part of Chiaramonti museum, with more than 3,000 stone tablets and inscriptions, which is the world's greatest collection of its kind. However, it is opened only by special permission, usually for reasons of study.

Museo Gregoriano Etrusco

Founded by Pope Gregory XVI in 1836, this museum has eight galleries and houses important Etruscan pieces, coming from archaeological excavations.[6] The pieces include: vases, sarcophagus, bronzes and the Guglielmi Collection.

Museo Gregoriano Egiziano

Founded by Pope Gregory XVI in 1839, this museum houses a grand collection of Ancient Egyptian material.[7] Such material includes papyruses, the Grassi Collection, animal mummies, and reproductions of the famous Book of the Dead.[8]

Vatican Historical Museum

The Vatican Historical Museum (Italian: Museo storico vaticano) was founded in 1973 at the behest of Pope Paul VI,[9] and was initially hosted in environments under the Square Garden. In 1987 it was moved to the main floor of the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran and opened in March 1991.

The Vatican Historical Museum has a unique collection of portraits of the Popes from the 16th century to date, the memorable items of the Papal Military Corps of the 16–17th centuries and old religious paraphernalia related to rituals of the papacy. Also on display on the lower floor are the papamobili (Popemobiles); carriages and motorcars of Popes and Cardinals, including the first cars used by Popes.[10]

Highlights from the Painting Collection

Other Highlights in the Museum

Photo of a long wide corridor filled with a crowd of people in casual dress. The ceiling is arched and is elaborately decorated with gilt stucco and small brightly coloured pictures. The walls have frescoes of large maps, each of which has a brilliant blue background.
Gallery of Maps

Visitors

Usually more than 4 million people visit the Museums every year. In 2011, the number of visitors reached 6 million. (by Editor Report Antonio Paolucci in "L'Osservatore Romano" of January 10, 2012)

On the last Sunday of each month, the Vatican Museum is open to the public for free. It is popular and common for people to wait in line for many hours. The other days of the week you can use the online ticket office to purchase an individual ticket or group tour ticket, either of which will enable you to bypass the ticket line completely. This image is a panoramic view of one small stretch of the entire queue in April 2007, which continues for some distance in both directions beyond view.

See also

Former entrance (now an exit) to the Vatican Museums, Vatican City

References

  1. 1 2 Top 100 Art Museum Attendance, The Art Newspaper, 2014. Retrieved on 13 July 2014.
  2. ↑  "Christian Museums". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
  3. ↑ Barbara McMahon in Rome. "Guardian.co.uk". Guardian. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  4. ↑ "Pinacoteca". Mv.vatican.va. 1932-10-27. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  5. ↑ Montebello, Philippe De; Kathleen Howard (1983). "Sala delle Muse". The Vatican: Spirit and Art of Christian Rome. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 178–180. ISBN 9780870993480.
  6. ↑ "Museo Gregoriano Etrusco". Mv.vatican.va. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  7. ↑ "Gregorian Egyptian Museum". Mv.vatican.va. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  8. ↑ Archived July 5, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Guida ai musei e alla Città del Vaticano. Ediz. inglese (in Italian). Edizioni Musei Vaticani. 1986. ISBN 978-88-86921-11-4. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  10. ↑ "Museo Storico Vaticano (San Giovanni)". 060608.it. Retrieved 9 May 2013.

Further reading

External links

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