As a part of the trip to Rome I visited the Vatican Museums that are a complex of different pontifical museums and galleries. The popes were among the first who opened the masterpieces of painting, sculpture and other works of art collected by them through the centuries to the public. The museums include The Sistine Chapel, Pinacoteca, Raphael's Rooms, Egyptian Museum, Etruscan Museum, Pio-Christian Museum, Gregorian Profane Museum, Gallery of Tapestries, Pius-Clementine Museum, Missionary Ethnological Museum, The Immaculate Conception and Sobieski Rooms, Borgia Apartment, Gallery of the Candelabra, Chariot Room, Apartment of Pius V, Gallery of Maps, Chiaramonti Museum-Braccio Nuovo Gallery, Historical Museum-Carriage Pavilion, Vatican Courtyards.
The Sistine Chapel (1475-1483). Designed by Baccio Pontelli.
Named after his commissioner Sixtus IV della Rovere, The Sistine Chapel impresses by the great paintings on the walls and ceiling.The ceiling that covers 800 sq metres is Michelangelo's masterpiece and one of the most important painting cycles in the world. Interpretation of the paintings can be divided into three parts. The images in the foreground have clear, sharp outlines, while those in the background have softened outlines painted with fluid brush strokes. Michelangelo had probably learnt that technique from Leonardo.
Gallery of Maps (1580-1585).
The Gallery of Maps consists of 40 maps frescoed on the walls,which represent the Italian regions and the papal properties at the time of Pope Gregory XII. They were painted on drawings by a famous geographer Ignazio Danti. On one side the regions surrounded by the Ligure and Tyrrhenian Seas are represented. On the other, the regions surrounded by the Adriatic Sea.
Rylova Anna
Hi Anna!
ReplyDeleteThis year I've been to Vatican museums too and the thing that I got interested in is that staircase on the first photo. I think that it's quite a strange object, even not safe for walking. But still the element creates a avery interesting feeling because of suddenly appearing steps. It begins as a ramp and ends as steps and this concept would have been strange in an ordinary staircase but here it is even more unpredictable because it's a spiral staircase. I remember that we needed to focus on walking as it was really easy to fall down. Furthermore, funnel construction of the staircase creates an optical effect of a huge depth and for me that was a strong and awful feeling because I'm afraid of heights. But, nevertheless this space feels different and amazing and interesting to analyze.
Ekaterina F. Level 5