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They
represent the greatest collection of
antiques in the world. You can
admire works of extraordinary
artistic interest through 7
kilometres. To reach their new
entrance, inaugurated by the Pope
the 7th of February 2000, starting
from "Piazza S. Pietro" you can go
to "Piazza Risorgimento" through the
right arcade, then you can pass
through "via Leone IV" and "viale
Vaticano". This new entrance
consists of a great helicoidal ramp,165
metres high, recalling the Louvre's
pyramid, and has the aim of forming
one-way only to avoid slowings and
queues. The Vatican Museums are
expanding on four levels and on an
area of 10.000 square metres. The
first works, which are kept here,
date back to the Renaissance; since
then on, Popes continued and
completed to gather and to select
the greatest treasures of art. They
are divided in several sections. You
can start from the Egyptian museum,
which occupies ten rooms, then you
can see the Chiaramonti museum,
where about one thousand Greek and
Roman sculptures are shwed.In the
lapidary gallery there are thousands
of inscriptions which make in the
richest one in the world. In the Pio
Clementino museum, besides numerous
Roman sculptures, which are copies
of famous Greek original ones, like
the Laocoonte, you can admire the
bronze "Amazzone ferita" and some
works by A. Canova, like the
"Perseo". The Etruscan museum keeps
objects coming from Etruria
excavations and private donations in
addition to Roman works and a
collection of Greek vases. Among the
most remarkable pieces there are
those coming from the famous
Cerveteri tomb. The Raffaello's
rooms are a fixed stop in the
Vatican Museums: they are so called
because keep frescoes by the famous
artist. In the room of the
Segnatura, which was the Giulio II's
study, you can find the "Disputa del
SS. Sacramento", the "Scuola di
Atene" and the "Parnaso". In the
Constantine's room there are some
frescoes by Master's pupils. Going
on, you can see the Raffaello's
loggia decorated with scenes of the
Old and New Testament; it was begun
by Bramante and completed by
Raffaello. A little bit further,
there are Chiaroscuri's room, the
ceiling of which is decorated with
Raffaello's designs, the Nicolina
Chapel with frescoes by Beato
Angelico and the Borgia's flat
decorated nearly in full by
Pinturicchio's frescoes. The
collection of modern religious art
occupies 55 rooms and consists of
about 800 paintings and religious
sculptures. The Sistina Chapel,
recently restored, was completed in
1480. You can admire, on its left
side, scenes of Mosè's life, and, on
its right side, scenes of Christ's
life. Its vault was decorated by
Michelangelo who painted also the
famous "Giudizio Universale" on the
main wall. |