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Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, Rome

Museum

Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel

Rome · Lazio

QUICK INFORMATION

CATEGORY
Museum
COUNTRY
Italy
REGION
Rome · Lazio
DURATION
3 days

ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION

The Vatican Museums are the collections of the popes, built up over five centuries and now one of the largest and most visited art museums in the world. The route leads through the Pio-Clementine sculpture courts, the Raphael Rooms painted for Julius II, the Gallery of Maps and dozens of other galleries to the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo’s ceiling and his Last Judgement cover the walls above the altar where popes are elected. The museums and St Peter’s Basilica together make the Vatican a self-contained day of sightseeing.

HISTORY & BACKGROUND

The story behind it

The museums began in 1506 when Pope Julius II acquired the Laocoön, a Greek sculpture group unearthed near Santa Maria Maggiore, and placed it in the Vatican’s Belvedere courtyard for public viewing. Successive popes added sculpture, painting, Etruscan and Egyptian antiquities and ethnographic collections. The Sistine Chapel itself was built by Sixtus IV in the 1470s and frescoed by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and others before Michelangelo was commissioned by Julius II to paint the ceiling between 1508 and 1512, returning decades later to paint the Last Judgement above the altar between 1536 and 1541.

WHAT TO SEE

What to see here

01

The Sistine Chapel ceiling — Michelangelo’s nine scenes from Genesis, from the Separation of Light and Darkness to the Drunkenness of Noah, with the Creation of Adam at their centre.

02

The Last Judgement — Michelangelo’s vast altar-wall fresco, painted three decades after the ceiling, with the artist’s self-portrait on the flayed skin of St Bartholomew.

03

The Raphael Rooms — the Stanza della Segnatura and its School of Athens, painted by Raphael for Julius II’s private apartments.

04

The Gallery of Maps — Ignazio Danti’s 16th-century topographical maps of Italy, running the length of a 120-metre corridor.

WHY IT MATTERS

Why it matters

The Vatican Museums hold one of the densest concentrations of Western art anywhere, and the Sistine Chapel is the peak of it. Michelangelo’s ceiling and Last Judgement are works that shaped the course of European painting, and seeing them in the room they were made for — rather than in reproduction — is one of the unrepeatable experiences of a visit to Rome. The museums also frame the Vatican as a working institution: the chapel is where the conclave meets to elect each new pope.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Before you go

Tickets
Book online in advance for a timed slot; the general-access queue can take hours. Early-entry and after-hours tours are available and worthwhile for the crowds alone.
Access
The entrance is on Viale Vaticano. The route is one-way and long — allow two to three hours minimum even on a focused visit.
Chapel
Silence is required in the Sistine Chapel and photography is not permitted. The chapel is at the very end of the museum route.
Context
The museums exit near St Peter’s Basilica; the two are usually visited together, though they have separate entrances and tickets.

MAP & LOCATION

Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel

Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, Rome, Lazio, Italy

41.9065, 12.4536

Open in OpenStreetMap

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THINGS TO DO

Things to do nearby

01

Walk the historic centre from the Pantheon to Piazza Navona

02

Cross the Tiber to Trastevere at dusk

03

Explore the Appian Way and the catacombs

FOOD & DRINK

Where to eat nearby

01

Roscioli — a celebrated salumeria and trattoria near Campo de’ Fiori, Roman pastas and a peerless cheese counter

02

Armando al Pantheon — classic Roman cooking a stone’s throw from the Pantheon, book ahead

03

Da Enzo al 29 — the most loved of Trastevere’s honest trattorias, no-fuss carbonara and saltimbocca

04

Pizzarium — Gabriele Bonci’s by-the-slice pizza al taglio near the Vatican, arguably Rome’s best

05

Two Sizes — thin Roman-style pizza by the slice, eaten standing, near the Spanish Steps

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HOTELS & STAYS

Where to stay nearby

01

Hotel Locarno — a Liberty-style hotel near Piazza del Popolo, with a leafy courtyard and a rooftop

02

Hotel Raphael — a boutique hotel off Piazza Navona with a rooftop terrace over the rooftops

03

The Fifteen Keys Hotel — a small design hotel in Monti, a quiet base within walking distance of the Forum

04

Generator Rome — a stylish hostel near Termini, good value for a central stay

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