08-Feb-23
This morning's adventure to the Vatican started with a parking garage and finding the secret/hidden by construction tunnel that got you from the parking garage to near St. Peter's Square (which is round by the way.) But we made it!
My parents were there!
So was I!
It was still busy, but our guide said it was the best time to be visiting because it wasn't as busy as usual.
Artsy photo of St. Peter's dome.
A Mr. Pomodoro! If you've read back posts of this blog, you'll know I have a weird fondness for these sculptures. My first one was in DC in the Hirschorn sculpture garden.
Oooo! It moves!!
Pinecone courtyard!
This pinecone used to be by the Pantheon in honor of Isis. It's over 2,000 years old.
Hey! It's Hadrian! We were at your house yesterday.
Also, apparently Hadrian made beards cool. Before him, they were considered barbaric.
Sneak peak of Rome from a Vatican window.
This is Laocoon. He's famous for saying "Beware of Greeks bringing gifts." As punishment for trying to save his people, the gods sent giant snakes to kill him and his sons. It is also famous for the motion and emotion depicted in the sculpture. Before this, most sculptures were pretty static. It was sculpted around 5th-4th century BC. Also, had the sculpted ever seen children? I mean really.
Who doesn't want a lion with a bull for a hat?
Is he trying to sacrifice the bull? Save it from the snake AND the dog?
Who knows? I can't get close enough to read the plaque.
Hall of animal sculpures!
Where the devil are my grapes? I swear I just had them!
Also this statue has body hair. I don't know that I've seen that before.
This room is modeled after the Pantheon. I thought that dome looked familiar!
Also this bath is carved from one massive hunk of purple porphyry marble and belonged to Nero.
This floor mosaic used to be in a Roman bath.
Even the cherubs have to make wine.
Another ancient mosaic. I really like all the color in this one.
It's at about this point that I'm debating the merits of guided vs self-guided tours.
There are plenty of things I'd like to stop and look at more closely, HOWEVER, if we didn't have a guide moving us along, we'd be here all week. Maybe next time I'll do self-guided.
Hall of Maps!
Ye olde Taranto! Dan has to go here sometimes for work.
Rome!
You could do a whole tour only on ceilings.
Parking lot!
No seriously, apparently the Vatican Archives are under this parking lot. Although they don't look they way they're depicted in Angels & Demons.
Buckle in for A LOT of Renaissance art almost entirely by Raphael.
This is by Raphael depicting the moment Constantine became Christian.
Here we see a classical statue being knocked down to make way for the new symbol, crucified Christ. (Also by Raphael)
The floor mosaics here aren't to shabby either.
Apparently Pope Julius II makes a cameo in several of the paintings in this room. He commissioned Raphael to do the paintings and battered Michelangelo into doing the Sistine Chapel.
Lions!
Why are you walking there?! I just finished cleaning the floor!
This is the Liberation of St. Peter (still Raphael.)
A boy and his dog.
This is the School of Athens, paying tribute to great thinkers and scientist of ancient Greece. Except, Raphael made their faces those of his contemporaries. Da Vinci is Plato. Michelangelo is the face of the man in the middle on the block of marble.
La Disputa, Christ in the heavens overlooking mortals arguing about the Eucharist.
Are you Raphael'd out? I am.
I think it's in this room that Pope Pius X had several scenes depicting things other Popes had done, but he had his face put on all of them instead.
An older painted ceiling for comparison.
Pius XI by Adolfo Wildt (1926)
Something a little different.
I've lost track of where we were and my brain has melted a little at this point. But more pretty ceilings!
More modern paintings of the St. Peter's Square and views of the Tiber River.
I like this painting of the Colosseum.
A very old ceiling.
Stories of St. Paul by Angelo Biancini (1967)
A liturgical vestment by Matisse.
And then we were in the Sistine Chapel. You aren't supposed to take photos in there, so we didn't. It's pretty intense but worth the visit if it's not too busy. Thankfully for us, it wasn't today.
And then we went into St. Peter's Basilica.
And we saw the Pieta by Michealangelo.
And a way less derby dove mosaic thing.
Main altar and the dome.
We wanted to climb the dome, but the line was too long and it wasn't moving. So we didn't.
The sacred Basilica IT/cable guy.
A little altar to Mary.
Pius VII?
Death got caught in all the fabric.
This is either another mausoleum or it goes to the Treasury Museum. Or maybe both.
We also went down into the Winter Crypt where several past Popes are interred. It brought up the questions, what determines where the Pope gets buried? JPII is up in the main church, but Benedict (who just passed) is down in this crypt. Who decides?
The gift shop is narrow and still crowded, but I was intrigued to see an Asian representation if Mary and the Christ Child.
And then we ate a late lunch, where we had some nice beers.
And I had this sandwich. Which was good, but very messy to eat.
