Continued from yesterday”¦ Going back to the dozen or so painted rooms “¦ Some of the rooms were chapels, some living quarters or offices of the popes. Most of these rooms were painted by incredibly famous artists, such as Raphael and Perugino. Most were done in roughly the same time period as the Sistine (late 1400’s through the 1500’s). Every inch of ceiling and wall were painted. Each painting had a religious theme. Something that really struck us as odd is that many of these paintings incorporated images of pagan Greek/Roman gods and goddesses, as well as Greek scholars and philosophers, alongside Jesus and bishops. There were also scenes depicting stories from pagan mythology, both Greek and Egyptian. We think the paintings are bizarre given how adamant the church was at destroying heretical pagan religious beliefs and repressing Greek knowledge. There are some bible scenes depicted, as well (of course). Probably the majority of the artwork was depictions of martyrdoms, conquests, miracles and other significant events from post bible Christian history. Every one of these rooms was spectacular. Every one of the rooms you could sit in for days just staring at the walls and ceilings before you really could fully take in and appreciate the artwork. Here are a couple photos. We know the paintings look small, but remember that these are whole entire walls in fairly large rooms.

In addition to the regular tour, there were several optional galleries along the way, as well, usually doorways off to the side where you could leave the main trail. Every single optional gallery was huge, with a trove of exhibits. The Greek & Roman art gallery has two enormous, and we do mean enormous, rooms jam packed with sculptures. It seemed like most of them were Roman marble copies of earlier Greek works in bronze. Look at how close together the sculptures are in this photo.

There is an Egyptian exhibit that stretches through many rooms. It is like a mini version of the Cairo museum since it has at least one of most of the same things on display, and even includes a real mummy. Although, we have to admit that none of the pieces in the Vatican, except the mummy, are nearly as spectacular as most of the pieces we saw in Egypt. And, yes, we still think mummies are kind of gross. Within the Egyptian exhibit is a small exhibit on Mesopotamian art, as well.

Our favorite museum is the Etruscan history museum, mostly because we have never seen any kind of Etruscan artifacts before. They are actually quite similar to Greek artifacts of about the same time frame. The Greek influence is undeniable. The Etruscan exhibit is also huge and spans a large number of rooms. It has the usual pottery, art, jewelry and sarcophagi, but this exhibit contains something extraordinary: metal. And a lot of it. Ancient metal ruins are incredibly rare. Most metal objects were eventually melted down and made into something else, or, if they weren’t, many metals deteriorate. There are a shocking number of metal items on display: water pitchers and dishes and door handles and candleabras and little sculptures and shields and mirrors and on and on. We can honestly say we believe there are more metal artifacts on display in the Vatican’s Etruscan exhibit than in all the ancient exhibits we have been to in the last year combined. We put these particular photos in because we like the expressive faces. The various styles of the faces in the art reminds us of the Carthagian gods, and is distinctly different from the Greek style of art. We think the first photo is shields and the second one is votives for use in temples.

When we did finally get to the Sistine, it was anti-climactic. We had been so completely overwhelmed by gallery after gallery after gallery of amazing art that we were feeling kind of numb and unable to absorb anymore. We had seen so many other amazingly beautiful rooms with similar style artwork that the Sistine just didn’t seem that special anymore. And, we had been on our feet for hours, so we were tired.

We walked in and took in the room. It wasn’t what we expected. The room is absolutely huge, built in 1484 to be exactly the same size as the great Solomon’s temple from biblical times. One wall is a gigantic floor to ceiling fresco, the famous Last Judgment, painted by Michelangelo later in his life. It has a bright blue background and clouds scattered about, and on the clouds are depictions of people being judged by God. We fuzzily recall the audio guide telling us that this painting broke all kinds of artistic rules and expanded the boundaries of what defines art. The angels didn’t have wings and the saints didn’t have halos. It was scandalous.

The giant Michelangelo wall fresco is beautiful, but it clashes badly with the other three walls, both in colors and style. The other three walls all match one another. The lower third of the rest of the walls is painted to look like expensive drapes. The middle third of the walls has a series of scenes from the bible, mostly stories of Moses and Jesus, all in similar colors painted in the straightforward style of the renaissance. Each of these bible scene paintings are absolutely beautiful. The top third has a series of what we assume are saints, all seated in what looks like the little alcoves that the Greeks and Romans put statues in. These walls were also painted by great artists of their day (late 1400’s). They had also painted the fourth wall in the same style, but it was covered over in favor of The Last Judgment. Apparently the pope that commissioned The Last Judgment wanted to make sure that his followers never forget that when they die they will have to face the wrath of God, hence the large size and prominence in the chapel.

The ceiling is another Michelangelo creation, painted early in his career. It is again a scattering of images depicting assorted scenes from the first book of the bible, Genesis. The famous scene where God has his finger outstretched to Adam is just one of many scenes up there, and it actually took a fair amount of scrutiny to pick it out from the rest. Interestingly enough, Michelangelo didn’t really want to paint the Vatican because he considered himself a sculptor, not a painter, and took the job reluctantly. This is yet another room where you have to stare at it for days to fully take it all in. Photos are strictly prohibited in the Sistine.

From the Sistine, you could either exit or do an optional tour of the library. We decided we needed to see the library, figuring it would be a collection of books, not art. That is what we get for thinking. It is room after room after room of elaborately painted walls and ceilings, with matching elaborately painted locking cupboards that we presume must contain books. There are also pieces of sculpture and art, along with some miscellaneous items such as maps, here and there. It went on forever. We were so burned out at this point that we walked through at high speed, only stopping to look at the most eye catching things in the collection. To give you an idea of how tall the room is, the cupboards on the sides are a good 6 feet tall. And they look small compared to the wall above it.

We exited the Vatican Museums and decided to go to a nearby restaurant to regroup. We needed to try to absorb all we had seen before we did any more sightseeing. By now it was late in the day, and we realized most of the tourist attractions had already closed or would be closing shortly. We decided to call it a day and head back to the marina.