The next day we had a tour of Vatican City.
As we began our tour, our guide pointed out the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. He told us at the end of the tour, we could go to the top of the dome. I immediately thought that would be cool but by the end of the tour I was way too tired. You can kind of see people at the top of the dome in this picture.
No talking or pictures are allowed in the Sistine Chapel, so our tour guide had us gather around posters in this lovely area so he could talk to us about what we would see in the Sistine Chapel. Some of the paintings in the chapel include the Stories of Moses, the Stories of Jesus, and the Resurrection of Christ. The guide spent a lot time talking about Michelangelo's painting called the Last Judgement.
As you can see, I am at the front of the group listening intently.
The Courtyard of the Pinecone. The pinecone is an ancient Roman fountain from the 1st century. Our tour guide said it was what they called a "sweating fountain" because the water coming down made it look like it was sweating. He also told us that you can drink from all the fountains in Rome. He showed us a small fountain and encouraged us to fill up our water bottles. I had seen a lady filling her water bottle at Trevi fountain the day before and thought "gross, she must be really thirsty!" Well, I guess it is okay to drink that water. It still wouldn't be my first choice to drink from a fountain!
Sphere Within Sphere, also in the Courtyard of the Pinecone.
When the tour guide showed us this statue, he asked us if the face looked familiar. He told us that this was the inspiration for the face of Michelangelo's David sculpture.
Gallery of the Tapestries has a lot of tapestries depicting the life of Christ. The Resurrection of Christ tapestry was really neat because it is a good example of "moving perspective." The tour guide told us to watch the eyes of Christ as we walked by the tapestry and the eyes follow you.
The ceilings in the Gallery of the Tapestries room were painted to appear three dimensional. Pretty Cool!
Gallery of the Maps. You can see me on the right looking at the beautiful ceiling. It is a visual overload going through these museums because you want to look at the floors, the walls, and ceilings.
Raphael's The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple. The artist would often include themselves in the painting and have their face looking at you. Can you see Raphael in this painting?
Raphael's The School of Athens
After seeing Raphael's Rooms, we finally saw the Sistine Chapel. It was one of my favorite parts of the tour. These are the stairs we used to exit the Sistine Chapel. Our guide said that only really important people can use this staircase to get straight to the Sistine Chapel.
We then went to St. Peter's Basilica.
There are statues everywhere.
One of Michelangelo's masterpieces, The Pieta. In the 70's, a mentally disturbed man broke off part of the sculpture with a hammer so it is now protected by bullet proof glass.
Altar of St. Jeorme. Earlier when we were looking at paintings in the museum we weren't allowed to use the flash on our cameras because it could damage the painting. In Saint Peter's Basilica, all the pictures are mosaics, so our tour guide said we could use the flash all we want because it won't damage a mosaic!
This place as huge!
The beautiful dome.
We then walked out to St. Peter's Square. Unfortunately, our pictures weren't the best due to overcast and work being done on some of the columns so this picture doesn't do it justice.
St. Peter's Square is huge so pictures from above make it easier to see the shape. The square has the two "maternal arms of Mother Church" that symbolize outstretched arms. This is just a picture I found on the internet by the way.
I love all the columns with the statues on top!
The outside of St. Peter's Basilica
We then had lunch and got ready for round two. It was so cold and windy in the spot we had to wait for our next tour.
Our next stop was St. Paul's Basilica.
A close up of the mosaics on the outside of the Basilica. Peter is on the left holding the key and Paul is on the right holding the sword. The sword represents the manner of Paul's death.
I loved seeing all the depictions of Peter holding the keys.
St. Paul's Basilica was not crowded at all. It was so quiet, peaceful, and majestic!
The Gothic Altar Canopy was created by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1285. The Candlestick on the right created around 1170 by Nicolo di Angelo and Pietro Vassalletto. In 1823, careless roofer split burning tar on supporting beams and much of the church burned to the ground. The church had to be reconstructed but the apse and candle stick survived the fire.
Apse Mosaic made by Venetian artists in 1220.
Our tour guide pointed out all the portraits along the wall are all the popes from Peter to the present day.
Close up of Peter's portrait
St. Paul's Tomb
Basilica of St. Mary Major
I loved this church. Gorgeous!
Below the windows is a row of Mosaics from the fifth century that depict 36 scenes from the Old Testament.
Bernini's tomb is located to the right of altar.
Apse, showing Jesus sitting on his throne with Mary.
The ceiling of the Borghese Chapel.
The crystal reliquary of the Holy Crib contains pieces of ancient wood that are believed to be part of the manger where Baby Jesus was laid.
Protectress of the Roman People, which is believed to have been painted by Saint Luke.
I loved all the artwork of Mary and the Baby Jesus!
The Basilica of St. John Lateran was also supposed to part of our tour but there were some political protests going on and the rode was blocked off so we didn't see this church. I think everyone was okay with skipping it and getting a partial refund. I was pretty wiped out and felt like I couldn't absorb anymore information. We then had the fun experience of trying to figure out how to buy tickets for the Metro to get back to our hotel. All in a day!
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