One of the smallest city-countries on our planet, the Vatican, has an incredible collection of archaeological and historical artifacts, works of religious and secular art, in terms of its cultural, historical and artistic value. Museum-state - this is how you can call this city, in the huge Musei Vaticani complex of which most of the treasures accumulated by the Roman Catholic Church over many centuries are stored.
A bit of history
In the 15th century, by order of Pope Sixtus IV, the Sistine Chapel named after him was built on the territory of the Vatican. Its construction was led by the architect de Dolci according to the project of another author - Baccio Pontelli. The rather modest church building inside was decorated with paintings by such Renaissance artists as Domenico Ghirlandaio and Sandro Botticelli, P. Perugino and C. Rosselli. The world famous fresco "The Last Judgment" bythe great Michelangelo decorates this chapel.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Torre dei Borgia (Borgia Tower) appeared in the Vatican, which today is considered not only a historical, but also an architectural monument. Around the same time, Pope Julius II began to collect a variety of fine objects and, in particular, copies of sculptures by ancient masters. A suitable room was allocated to accommodate these exhibits - the Octagonal Courtyard.
The Vatican acquired the status of a sovereign state with legalized papal authority only in the first quarter of the last century, after the Lateran Treaty was signed. However, according to this document, expositions of cultural, historical and religious values that were previously available only to the Catholic clergy and rich and noble people were ordered to be opened for viewing by everyone.
What can you see?
Today, about 1/5 of the territory of the Vatican State is open for tourists to visit. The Raphael Loggia Museum, where some travelers aspire to go, does not exist as such. This is part of the official papal reception, where ordinary travelers are not allowed to enter. But even without this, there is something to see in the Vatican: about 19 museums and more than 1400 rooms (galleries, chapels, halls and chapels) open for visiting and inspection. The total length of all proposed excursion routes is about 7 kilometers.
Which museums are open?
Telling in detail about all the Vatican museums available to tourists is notwe will just list them:
- Borgia Apartments.
- Ethnological missionary.
- Historic.
- Chiaramonti.
- Pius Clement.
- Pio Cristiano.
- Pinacotheca.
- Gregorian.
- Egyptian.
- Etruscan.
- Secular art.
Galleries:
- geographic maps;
- candelabra;
- tapestry.
Capella:
- Nikolina;
- Sistine.
In order to simply get around, without really looking at the exhibits, all the Vatican Museums (reviews from travelers testify to this), it will take more than one day. More than three hours, an ordinary tourist who does not have special training cannot endure. Therefore, it is better to think over in advance what you want to see first of all, and devote maximum time to one or two museums.
Opening hours
Want to get to know the Vatican better? You can choose any museum for a better acquaintance with the mini-country. All of them start their work from 9 am and are open until 6 pm. But it’s better to come to the ticket office around 8 in the morning, since at the height of the tourist season the line of unorganized travelers is quite large, and you can stand in it for several hours. Ticket offices are open until 4 p.m., but the museums themselves will have to leave no later than half past five in the evening, that is, 30 minutes before they close. Unlike our museums, the Vatican museums are open on Sunday only if it is the last Sunday of the month.
If holidays like Easter DayApostles Peter and Paul (June 29), Catholic Christmas (December 25), St. Stephen's Day (December 26), and the last Sunday of the month coincided, then feel free to go to the Vatican, you can visit any museum and until 12:30 is completely free.
Positive reviews about the Vatican Museums are left by tourists who were lucky enough to visit them in the evening, from 19 to 23 hours. This opportunity is available from May to October, except for August. The entrance to museums will be closed at half past ten in the evening, but visitors already inside will be able to continue viewing until 23:00.
Ticket price
To get into the Vatican Museums, you need to buy tickets at the box office. During the tourist season, the queues are quite long, and, as already mentioned, you can spend several hours in them if you are not lucky.
Single ticket for the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums is valid all day from the date of purchase until the closing of the museums. A full "adult" ticket costs 16 euros. Experienced travelers recommend booking tickets online and receiving a voucher for their purchase. The price of such a service is 4 euros, but both time and nerves will be saved. For pupils and students who have presented documents of international standard confirming their status, a ticket will cost 4 euros, and for everyone else aged 6 to 18 years - 8 euros.
How to find out about all the attractions that the Vatican is rich in? The most interesting thing to visit the museum is to rent an audio guide with more than 400 mp3 files for 7 euros.
Vatican Museum Reviews
Thosethose who were lucky enough to see the various expositions presented in the Vatican Museums almost unanimously say that the impressions were only positive. But most tourists notice that one day to get acquainted with the vast collections of the Roman Catholic Church is clearly not enough. In addition, travelers note that it is best to plan a visit to this museum complex for the autumn period, when the tourist flow noticeably decreases.
