Have you ever dreamed of visiting the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope? Most likely not, since it was hidden from prying eyes for a long time. Now part of the palace is open to the general public. This means that we can visit it, only virtually, but the tour will be interesting. You will be amazed by 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 Raphael's Stanzas - are part 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 A. D. e. Pope Symmachus planned to transfer the curia fromLateran to St. Peter's area. In the immediate vicinity of the tomb of the apostle, the whole landscape of church buildings, monasteries and churches grew. In the 9th century, by order of Pope Leo IV, buildings were built to strengthen St. Peter's Basilica. They got the name "Lion City".
Construction period
The future Papal Palace was built between the 13th and 17th centuries. Since the XIV century, the residence of the Holy Father has already been in it, but besides it there was a huge complex of buildings built in different time periods by different architects. Almost every pope who came to power made his own 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 only in 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 painter Fra Angelico to decorate the Nicolina Chapel. 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 growing, connecting with magnificent galleries to the Belvedere Palace, erected in 1490 near the Vatican. The Court of Saint Damaz is surrounded by lodges created by Bramante and then painted by Raphael and his students.
In addition to the papal apartments, the palace houses chapels and offices of the Roman Curia, andalso the halls of the Vatican Museums with numerous collections of treasures of painting from different eras, sculpture and architecture. The palace complex consists of twenty courtyards, 1400 rooms and two hundred staircases. The area is 55,000 m², this 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 private chambers of the Holy Father, there are various institutions, as well as an important governing body of the Holy See - the Secretariat of State.
The we alth of art treasures at the Papal Palace in the Vatican has prompted the 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! The art collections have been enriched and enlarged by the treasures of the Roman catacombs, the works of the Basilica of San Pedro and San Juan de Letrán, and the archaeological excavations carried out on Roman soil. The lands where the Vatican is located were 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 Profane museums, as well as the cabinet of medals.
- Under Pope Clement XIV (1769-1774) and Pope Pius VI. (1775-1799) Papal galleries were established.
- Pope Gregory XVI(1831-1846) opened in 1837 the Etruscan Museum, which contains excavations from Etruria, and in 1839 the Egyptian Museum, with excavations from Egypt. The Gregorian Profan Museum was founded in the Lateran Palace (1844).
- Pius XI opened the Pinakothek in 1932, where paintings stolen by Napoleon and returned after the Congress of Vienna (1815) and other works from the Vatican collection were exhibited.
- Under the pontificate of Paul VI in 1973, a new collection of contemporary 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 a ramp. The balustrade was designed by Antonio Maraini and currently serves as an exit from museums.
Many tourists want to get there, but if there is no prior order for an excursion, you will have to stand in a long queue, 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 between Constantine and Maxentius. The Vatican Museums are not just a building or a gallery. These are galleries and many rooms of artistic value, owned by 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 a privatecollection of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere. When he was elected pope in 1503 with the name of Julius II, he gave his collection to the Belvedere Palace. It was adorned with some of the sculptures today known as the Eightfold Court: Apollo Belvedere, Lucky Venus, the River Nile, the River Tiber, the sleeping Ariadne, and a group of Laocoons 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 is also an incunabula, coins and medals, art objects. In total, more than two million books and manuscripts complete this gigantic picture. The large library hall - "Salon Sistino", 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 admireancient important and valuable manuscripts, coins and drawings.
Pinacotheca
Also worth seeing in the Vatican is the landmark of the Papal Palace - the Pinakothek, an art gallery, a collection of paintings founded by Pope Pius VI. Since 1932, works have been exhibited there, the creation of which stretched from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 19th century. The collection was replenished and continues to be replenished due to the collections of the pontiffs. The 16 rooms feature tapestries and Italian paintings, mostly with Christian themes. Extraordinarily valuable paintings by Veneziano "Mary Magdalene", Nicolo "The Last Judgment", Vitale de Bologna "Madonna and Child" are stored here.
Outstanding works of the Renaissance, a room with unsurpassed masterpieces by Raphael, sketches by the great master Leonardo with his technique of compositional construction, a wide palette of artists of the Venetian school, works by Italian masters - all this can be seen with your own eyes in the halls of the Pinakothek.
Yards
There are three courtyards in the Apostolic Palace, which together are considered the Vatican courtyards.
- Cortile della Pigna (Courtyard of the Pigna) owes its name to the four-meter 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 Bramante's courtyard.
- Cortile del Belvedere (CourtyardBelvedere) was the center of the Vatican Museums and impresses with a large fountain in the middle of the courtyard. It was originally 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 a 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 and its Vatican Museums are the famous Sistine Church and the four rooms of Raphael, open for viewing and included in the route through the Vatican Museums.
Museum Pio-Clementino - the most famous, named after two pontiffs. It is famous for its classical sculpture. Its exposition consists of statues delivered from all over Rome and its environs. The collection of sculptures with the Sleeping Ariadne is striking in its beauty. The Hall of the Animals contains statues and collections of animal mosaics. There is a Cabinet of Masks in the museum, where frescoes with masks are presented.
In addition, there are a number of different museums and collections in the Apostolic Palace:
- Galleria Chiaramonti is a colonnade 300 meters long and almost seven meters wide, the collection contains about 1000 sculptures, sarcophagi and portraits of emperors - along with a mosaic 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 hallbusts;
- Museo Gregoriano Egizio - the museum houses Greco-Roman statues;
- Museo Gregoriano Etrusco - contains a large collection of vases made in different Greek techniques;
- Museo Missionario-Etnologico - exhibits religious objects from Asia, Oceania, America and Africa, brought by missionaries from different continents;
- Museo Storico Vaticano - the exposition and exhibits are dedicated to the long, turbulent 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: Viale Vaticano, 00165 Rome. Bus stop Viale Vaticano-Musei Vaticani is served by bus line 49. If you are taking the metro, stop Cipro. It is located approximately 600-700 meters from the entrance to the Vatican Museums.
