TheVatican Museums (Italian:Musei Vaticani;Latin:Musea Vaticana) are the public museums of theVatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by theCatholic Church and thepapacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-knownRoman sculptures and most important masterpieces ofRenaissance art in the world. The museums contain roughly 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display,[2] and currently employ 640 people who work in 40 different administrative, scholarly, and restoration departments.[5]
The Vatican Museums trace their origin to a single marble sculpture, purchased in the 16th century:Laocoön and His Sons was discovered on 14 January 1506, in a vineyard near thebasilica ofSanta Maria Maggiore in Rome. Pope Julius II sentGiuliano da Sangallo andMichelangelo, who were working at the Vatican, to examine the discovery.[11] On their recommendation, the Pope immediately purchased the sculpture from the vineyard owner. The Pope put the sculpture, which represents theTrojan priestLaocoön and his two sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being attacked by giant serpents, on public display at the Vatican exactly one month after its discovery.[12][13]
Benedict XIV founded theMuseum Christianum, and some of the Vatican collections formed theLateran Museum, whichPius IX founded by decree in 1854.[14]
The museums celebrated their 500th anniversary in October 2006 by permanently opening the excavations of aVatican Hill necropolis to the public.[15]
The art gallery was housed in theBorgia Apartment untilPius XI ordered construction of a dedicated building. The new building, designed byLuca Beltrami, was inaugurated on 27 October 1932.[18] The museum's paintings include:
The group of museums includes several sculpture museums surrounding theCortile del Belvedere. These are the Museo Gregoriano Profano, with classical sculpture, and others as below:
The museum takes its name from two popes:Clement XIV, who established the museum, andPius VI, who brought it to completion. Clement XIV came up with the idea of creating a new museum inInnocent VIII's Belvedere Palace and started the refurbishment work.[22]
Clement XIV founded the Museo Pio-Clementino in 1771; it originally contained artworks ofantiquity and theRenaissance. 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 as follows:
Octagonal Court (akaBelvedere Courtyard andCortile delle Statue): this was where some of the first ancient classical statues in the papal collections were first displayed. Some of the most famous pieces, the Apollo of the Belvedere and Laocoön and His Sons have been here since the early 1500s.
Sala Rotonda: shaped like a miniaturePantheon, the room has ancient mosaics on the floors, and ancient statues lining the perimeter, including a gilded bronze statue ofHercules and the BraschiAntinous.
Gallery of the Statues (Galleria delle Statue): as its name implies, holds various important statues, includingSleeping Ariadne and the bust ofMenander. It also contains theBarberini Candelabra.[23]
Gallery of the Busts (Galleria dei Busti) Many ancient busts are displayed.
Cabinet of the Masks (Gabinetto delle Maschere). The name comes from the mosaic on the floor of the gallery, found inVilla Adriana, which shows ancient theater masks. Statues are displayed along the walls, including theThree Graces.
Sala delle Muse: houses the statue group of Apollo and the nine muses, uncovered in a Roman villa nearTivoli in 1774, as well as statues by important ancient Greek or Roman sculptors. The centerpiece is theBelvedere Torso, revered byMichelangelo and other Renaissance men.[24]
Sala degli Animali: so named because of the many ancient statues of animals.[23]
TheMars of Todi is an ancient Etruscan bronze statue from the late 400s BC; in the Gregorian Etruscan Museum.
This museum was founded in the early 19th century byPius VII, whose surname before his election as Pope was Chiaramonti. The museum consists of a large arched gallery in which are exhibited several statues, sarcophagi and friezes. The New Wing, orBraccio Nuovo, built byRaffaele Stern, houses statues including theAugustus of Prima Porta, theDoryphoros, andThe River Nile. It is in theNeoclassical style and has a wide arched roof with skylights. TheGalleria Lapidaria forms part of the Museo Chiaramonti, and contains over 3,000 stone tablets and inscriptions. It is accessible only with special permission, usually for the purpose of academic study.
The inside of this Egyptian 'Yellow Coffin' Sarcophagus is filled with intricate iconic and textual symbols; in the Museo Gregoriano Egiziano.
Founded byGregory XVI in 1837, this museum has nine galleries and housesEtruscan pieces, coming from archaeological excavations in the territory of the Papal State as well as other works already held in the Vatican.[25] The collection include vases, sarcophagus, bronzes, terracotta, ceramics as well as works from the Falcioni and Guglielmi Collections.
Statue of the Nile recumbent, 1st–2nd century AD; in the Museo Gregoriano Egiziano
This museum houses a large collection of artifacts fromAncient Egypt and also many Egyptian works of Roman production in nine rooms. The Carlo Grassi Collection of bronzes is part of the collection.[26] Such material includes papyruses, sarcophagi, mummies, sculptures and reproductions of theBook of the Dead.[27]
TheVatican Historical Museum (Italian:Museo storico vaticano) was founded in 1973 at the behest ofPaul VI,[28] and was initially hosted in environments under the Square Garden. In 1987, it moved to the main floor of theLateran Palace, where it opened in March 1991.
TheGallery of Maps: topographical maps of the whole ofItaly, painted on the walls by friarIgnazio Danti of Perugia, commissioned byGregory XIII (1572–1585). It remains the world's largest pictorial geographical study.
TheBramante Staircase is adouble spiral staircase designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932. The staircase has two parts, adouble helix, and is of shallow incline, being a stepped ramp rather than a true staircase. It encircles the outer wall of a stairwell about fifteen metres (49 feet) wide and with a clear space at the centre. The balustrade around the ramp is of ornately worked metal.
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 tickets are available online or in person. This image is a panoramic view of one small stretch of the entire queue on Sunday 29 April 2007, which continues for some distance in both directions beyond view.
On 18 August 2022, two members of the climate activist groupUltima Generazione glued themselves to the marble base of the Laocoon statue and unfurled a banner calling for an end to fossil fuels while a third member filmed them. Conservationists said that the act resulted in permanent damage to the sculpture, with restoration works costing 3,148 euros. A Vatican court subsequently sentenced the three to a nine-month suspended prison sentence and fines of up to 28,000 euros ($30,000).[29]
On 5 October 2022, an American tourist was arrested after hurling a Roman bust at the Chiaramonti Museum and damaging another bust.Il Messaggero reported that the man damaged the artefacts in anger after he was informed that he could not have an audience withPope Francis as part of his vacation wish. The museum's press director Matteo Alessandrini said one bust lost part of a nose and an ear, while the other was knocked off its pedestal. Conservation and repair works on the sculptures were estimated to cost 15,000 euros ($14,800 US) and took about 300 hours to be completed.[30]
^Bertoldi, Susanna (2011).The Vatican Museum: Discover the history, the works of art, the collections. Vatican City: Sillabe. pp. 46, 96.ISBN978-88-8271-210-5.
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