Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel is one of the greatest works of Italian art. Currently it is still consecrated as a papal chapel and is included in the visit of the Vatican Museums. The Chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere and was built as a private chapel, inside which the most important ceremonies were held during the Holy Year and gathered in the Conclave, when it was to elect a new pontiff. When Pope Sixtus IV decided to create the Chapel he called the greatest Tuscan and Umbrian artists of the period (Botticelli, Signorelli, Cosimo Rosselli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Pinturicchio), who decorated the side parts with frescoes representing two important cycles of stories taken from the Old and New Testaments. The vault, originally, was painted with a simple blue sky studded with golden stars, and kept this aspect until Pope Julius II della Rovere commissioned to Michelangelo the redecoration of the vast surface, which created what is today called the absolute masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance.

Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums were founded by Pope Julius II in the sixteenth century and occupy a large part of the vast courtyard of the Belvedere. It is one of the largest collections of art in the world, as they preserve the enormous collection of works of art accumulated over the centuries by the Popes: the Sistine Chapel and the papal apartments frescoed by Michelangelo and Raphael are just some of the works that visitors can admire in their path.