Friday, May 18, 2012

We started our day with a lecture on some of the art that we would be seeing at the Vatican. The main focus of the lecture was on the three Raphael paintings we would see, as well as his frescoes. The lecturer also gave us some background on the art on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. After the lecture we boarded the bus for a short ride to Vatican Coty. I felt very safe in the bus as we were high above the street and the rest of the traffic. Our big bus still had to maneuver through the narrow streets, parked cars, cars, scooters and pedestrians – not an enviable task.

The first stop in the Vatican museum was the art gallery. We saw a lot of great work, but the highlights were the Raphael paintings. The colours were so vibrant they might have been painted yesterday rather than early 1500s.

We also saw an unfinished Leonardo da Vinci that had been used as the back of a chair before its significance was known!

We went through a number of rooms in the museum after lunch. The crowds were very large and at times you were forced to stop and at others you were unable to stop. Some of the photos I took were of the floors and ceilings as they were as much art as the tapestries and statues they contained.

The Gallery of Maps was interesting. The ceiling was covered in frescoes that depicted the various regions of Rome, and the walls showed maps of those territories.

Finally we got to the Raphael rooms where the frescoes were breathtaking. These frescoes were covered in our morning lecture so we knew what to look for.

And then, as if not overwhelmed enough, we went down about six flights of steps to the Sistine Chapel. No photographs are allowed. The ceiling is … there is no word for it. To think it is a fresco (painted on wet plaster), and done by one man is almost a miracle in itself. The myth is that he lay on his back to paint the ceiling, but he did it from a standing position (and ruined his back). It is from this chapel that new popes are elected.

Next up was St. Peter’s Basilica, where the Pope celebrates mass on Christmas Eve. The size of the structure was staggering. Each of the letters in the photo below is 6 feet high, and that is just a small border around the altar.

After a very busy day we exited the Basilica and got our last view from St. Peter’s square.

Dinner was in the restaurant that we ate at our very first night in Rome. We didn’t go up to the rooftop, but we had a much better meal tonight. After dinner Pat and I wandered around a bit before heading back to the hotel. It will be another busy day tomorrow.

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