Vatican Night Tour

The culture club at my university arranged a tour of the Vatican last Friday night. We started the tour in the museum in the Renaissance gallery. We saw tapestries created by Raphael and his pupils which were absolutely amazing. My favorite one is a scene of Jesus sitting at a table and either angle that you look at the tapestry the table and Jesus are always facing you straight on (hard to explain but it is similar to those pictures that change as you flip them from side to side).

We walked through Raphael's four apartments, Sala di Costantino (Hall of Constantine), the Stanza di Eliodoro (Room of Heliodorus), the Stanza della Segnatura (Room of the Signatura) and the Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo (The Room of the Fire in the Borgo). Each of the rooms are spectacular but my favorite room was Segnatura. On one of the walls is a painting of the philosophers Plato and Aristotle, among other important figures for the shaping of math and science. Raphael chose to include a self portrait and a portrait of Michelangelo in this scene as well.

After viewing various other statues we made our way to the Sistine Chapel. Pope Sixtus IV commissioned Perugino in 1481 to build the Sistine Chapel. Construction on the chapel was finished in 1483. The great Renaissance artists, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Botticelli, all contributed to the frescoes in the church.

Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the 12000 square foot ceiling. After 4 years, 1508 to 1512, the project was finished. The ceiling tells the story of creation of life, beginning with the creation of night, day, earth, Adam and Eve, and original sin and ending with the story of Noah. Before seeing Michelangelo's masterpiece in person it was hard to fully comprehend just how extraordinarily gifted he was. His attention to details in the anatomy of his subjects and his creativity is surreal.

My favorite part about the Sistine Chapel is his Last Judgement painting above the altar in the front of the chapel. The painting starts on the left hand side and works its way up and down to the right. It chronicles the passage from earth to either heaven or hell after being judged by Christ. Michelangelo included a self portrait in the skin that Bartholomew is holding. An interesting story that our tour guide shared is that Michelangelo incorporated a cardinal, who he was mad at for criticizing his work, into the section of hell. The cardinal is shown naked with a snake wrapped around his legs and biting his you know what ;). The whole scene is breathtaking especially upon close examination of the emotion behind the faces.