A Tourist in Rome - Vatican Museum

Location:41.90689, 12.45384 Northern edge of the Vatican, entrance is at Viale Vaticano and Via Tunis
Metro:Cipro Musei Vaticano
Time:2 to 4 hours
Cost:€20
Hours:Monday - Saturday 9 AM - 8 PM, closed Sunday

The Vatican Museum is a very large museum where you can spend anywhere from a couple hours to several days. It can be overwhelming and can get very crowded. To avoid lines, you should buy your ticket online in advance, and check the hours and days the museum is closed against when you plan to go. You must reserve the date and time you want to go, and you must print the voucher they email you. Then, at the museum, you can bypass the ticket-purchase line and go directly to the "Entrance with Reservations"line on the right. Once inside, you exchange your voucher for a ticket, showing your ID. Although mornings are among the most crowded times to visit the museum, I recommend you go then, spend the morning and lunchtime in the museum, then see the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, the Dome Walk and St. Peter's Square in the afternoon and evening. I suggest this route because it reduces your walking distance. If you begin with the Basilica area, you'll need to walk around the outside of the Vatican to get to the entrance of the museum (about a 30 minute walk of about a mile), and when you finish the museum, you'll be back at the Basilica entrance anyhow. But that extra walk is the only reason I make this suggestion, you might avoid crowds better by seeing the museum during the afternoon when the crowds there are thinned a bit. In any case, to get into St. Peter's Basilica or to take the Dome Walk or to visit the Museum, you must dress such that your shoulders and knees are covered, and shorts are prohibited. The museum has two exits and you should decide which route you'll take before you enter. The main exit is near the entrance, at the north edge of the Vatican. If you rent an audio guide, you will must use this exit since you must return your audio guide, but then you're that mile away from the Basilica. If instead you forego the audio guide, and don't have a bag large enough to have to check, you can exit from the Sistine Chapel at the end of the museum directly into the Basilica. This is the route I recommend, to save time and walking distance. However, I've read that sometimes that exit is closed since its officially only for tour-guides and their groups. If it looks like people are being turned away, just blend in with a tour-group.

With all the photos on this page, be sure to click or touch the photo to zoom in and reveal the caption so you can understand what you're seeing and the significance of it. Then you can click it again to put the photo back to original size, or press your right arrow key on your keyboard to magnify the next photo.

    
The exit from the Vatican Museum; the entrance is a short way to the left
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The Vatican Museum, from the top of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. It is quite a large place.
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The 'Cortile delle Corazze', modern ramp just inside the entrance to the Vatican Museum
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For your use in following along with the route I'm suggesting through the museum, here is a map of the lower floor, upper floor, and basement and here is a map of the museum in a single layer.

The Pinacoteca is the painting gallery in the Vatican Museum. If you wish to see it and you're planning to exit the museum from the Sistine Chapel, you should see the Pinacoteca at the start of your tour. After the Pinacoteca, you'll be back on track for the normal direct route through the museum. You'll begin with an Ancient section (my favorite) with Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan areas, followed by a very long hallway with statues (I like this part, too), tapestries, then maps, followed by a trip upstairs to a set of many rooms from the Renaissance period, and finally back to the lower floor to the SistineChapel. Now that you understand the task that awaits you, pace yourself and skip the sections you're not interested in so you can make it through in the time you want, and with the remaining energy that you want. If you want to see the Pinacoteca (I breezed through it in about 20 minutes during my first visit, with another 40 minutes during my second visit), the photos below are what I'd consider the highlights. If you're really in a hurry and want the single highlight, it'd be Raphael's masterpiece named The Transfiguration, 5th photo below.

    
The entrance to the painting gallery (Pinacoteca) of the Vatican Museum
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The 'Stefaneschi Triptych' from about 1300, in Room II of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum. The triptych (painting in three sections) takes its name from cardinal Jacopo Caetani degli Stefaneschi, who had it painted for the old St Peter's basilica. It is painted on both sides as it was to be seen both by the priest and by the faithful. The front shows Christ enthroned with angels and cardinal Stefaneschi, between the crucifixion of St Peter on the left and the martyrdom of St Paul on the right. The predella below shows the Madonna and Child enthroned between two angels and the twelve apostles. On the back is St Peter enthroned with cardinal Stefaneschi, holding in his hands the model of the triptych, and Pope Celestine I on the central panel, and on the side panels, St James and St Paul on the left, St John the Evangelist and St Andrew on the right. Only one section of the predella remains, and this has three saints.
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The 'Coronation of the Virgin with Angels, Saints and the Donors', or 'Marsuppini Coronation', by Filippo Lippi, circa 1444, in the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum.
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Melozzo da Forii (1470's), in the Vatican Museum
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Raphael's 'Transfiguration', 1516-1520, in Room VIII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum. The altarpiece illustrates two episodes narrated in succession in the Gospel according to Matthew: the Transfiguration above, with Christ in glory between the prophets Moses and Elijah, and below, in the foreground, the meeting of the Apostles with the obsessed youth who will be miraculously cured by Christ on his return from Mount Tabor. This is Raphael's last painting and appears as the spiritual testament of the artist.
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Raphael's 'Coronation of the Virgin', or 'Oddi Altarpiece', 1502-1503, in Room VIII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum. In the upper part of the composition, among angel musicians, Christ crowns the Virgin, while in the lower part the Apostles, among whom St Thomas with the girdle which he had received as a gift from the Virgin, are arranged around the tomb, in which there are flowers in place of the Virgin who has ascended to heaven.
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Raphael's 'Madonna of Foligno', 1511-1512, in Room VIII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum. Sigismondo de' Conti, a distinguished humanist of Foligno, is shown kneeling in prayer on the right: St Jerome, in the vestments of a cardinal, presents him to the Virgin, who is seated in glory with the Child Jesus. On the left St John the Baptist, dressed in animal skins, indicates the heavenly vision. Kneeling before this is St Francis, patron of the Minors, to whose church the picture was painted. The painting was ordered by Sigismondo de' Conti out of thanksgiving to the Virgin for having saved his house in Foligno, that had been struck by lightning. The episode is recalled in the splendid landscape insertion in the background. The small angel in the centre of the composition holds a plaque without an inscription which was probably destined to recall the wish fulfilled by the Virgin.
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da Vinci's 'St Jerome in the Wilderness', circa 1482, in Room IX of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum. Still in the sketch state it is one of the most enigmatic works of the great Tuscan painter, sculptor, architect, engineer and philosopher. The painting depicts Saint Jerome during his retreat to the Syrian desert, where he lived the life of a hermit. St Jerome kneels in a rocky landscape, gazing toward a crucifix which can be discerned faintly sketched in at the extreme right of the painting. In Jerome's right hand he holds a rock with which he is traditionally shown beating his chest in penance. At his feet is the lion which became a loyal companion after he extracted a thorn from its paw. The lion, the stone and a cardinal's hat are the traditional attributes of the saint. On the left-hand side of the panel the background is a distant landscape of a lake surrounded by precipitous mountains shrouded in mist. To the right-hand side, the only discernible feature is a faintly-sketched church, seen through the opening in the rocks.
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Raphael's and Giulio Romano's and Giovan Francesco Penni's 'Coronation of the Virgin', or 'Madonna di Monteluce', 1505-1525, in Room X of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum. The painting was started by Raphael but not completed before his death. Two of his assistants completed the work. The work is made up of two parts, painted on different occasions and then joined together. The most likely hypothesis is that the upper panel with the Crowning of the Virgin (probably begun as a sketch by Raphael) is the work of Giulio Romano, while for the lower part with the Apostles gathered around a tomb covered in flowers an altarpiece by Giovan Francesco Penni was used.
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Caravaggio's 'Deposition', 1600-1604, in Room XII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum. Considered one of Caravaggio's greatest masterpieces, he did not really portray the Burial or the Deposition in the traditional way, inasmuch as Christ is not shown at the moment when he is laid in the tomb, but rather when, in the presence of the holy women, he is laid by Nicodemus and John on the Anointing Stone, that is the stone with which the sepulchre will be closed. Around the body of Christ are the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, John, Nicodemus and Mary of Cleophas, who raises her arms and eyes to heaven in a gesture of high dramatic tension.
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Guido Reni's 'Crucifixion of St Peter', 1604-1605, in Room XII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum. As soon as he arrived in Rome, the Bolognese artist approached the new revolutionary ideas of Caravaggio's painting, which, from their first appearance, had decidedly influenced the artistic life of the city. This influence is clear in the Crucifixion of St Peter, which is inspired by the same subject already dealt with by Caravaggio in the painting for the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, with respect to which however the high dramatic tension is lessened.
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Wenzel Peter's 'Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden', 1745, in Room XVI of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum. The large canvas represents the climax of Wenzel Peter's career. He was an animalist painter, that is to say specialized in a very unique type of painting, and this led him to reproducing with extraordinary naturalism animals of the most varied species, as it were "photographed" in both standing and fighting positions. The Garden of Eden is the proof of the highest virtuosity, since the artist gathers around the figures of Adam and Eve those of over two hundred animals from all over the world, reproduced not only with pictorial ability, but also with a detailed knowledge and scientific precision.
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Bernini's 'Head of St Athanasius', 1661-1665, clay and straw over an iron and wickerwork frame, model for one of the bronze statues on the Altar of the Throne of St Peter in St Peter's Basilica, now in Room XVII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum
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Bernini's 'Head of St John Chrysostom', 1661-1665, clay and straw over an iron and wickerwork frame, model for one of the bronze statues on the Altar of the Throne of St Peter in St Peter's Basilica, now in Room XVII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum
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Bernini's 'Angel on the left', 1665, clay and straw over an iron and wickerwork frame, model for one of the bronze statues on the Altar of the Throne of St Peter in St Peter's Basilica, now in Room XVII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum
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Bernini's and Raggi's 'Angel on the right (first version)', 1659-60, clay and straw over an iron and wickerwork frame, model for one of the bronze statues on the Altar of the Throne of St Peter in St Peter's Basilica, now in Room XVII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum
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Bernini's and Raggi's 'Angel on the right (first version)', 1659-60, clay and straw over an iron and wickerwork frame, model for one of the bronze statues on the Altar of the Throne of St Peter in St Peter's Basilica, now in Room XVII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum
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Bernini's 'Angel on the right', 1673, clay and straw over an iron and wickerwork frame, model for one of the bronze statues on the Altar of the Throne of St Peter in St Peter's Basilica, now in Room XVII of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museum
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I suggest exiting the Pinacoteca through the route that normally exits the museum entirely (don't worry, we won't). This way you can see the Museo Gregoriano Profano. I think when I visited in 2014, some sculptures from the Braccio Nuovo, which was being renovated, were being stored here. So my first few photos (those of Augustus of Prima Porta) probably aren't normally here. But the rest of these photos are from this rather small part of the museum which you can walk through as quickly as you'd like on your way to the spectacular Bramante Spiral Staircase.

    
Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century AD, in the (unfortunately, closed during my visit) Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican Museum. The statue was found in the ruins of the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta. It is a statue of the emperor himself, wearing a highly decorated cuirass and with his cloak wrapped around his hips, in the act of addressing his troops. The reliefs on the cuirass show a Parthian king in the act of returning to a Roman officer the standards lost by Crassus in 53 BC during the Battle of Carrhae, The whole scene is inserted into a cosmic landscale: at the top one can see the personification of the Heavens in the center, with the chariots of Apollo and Aurora alongside. At the bottom one can recognize Diana riding on the back of a hind, and, in the center, the goddess Earth. At his right leg is the god Eros, to remind us that his family claimed to have descended from the goddess Venus. The dolphin Eros rides refers to Augustus' destruction of Antony and Cleopatra's fleet in the sea battle of Actium.
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Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century AD, in the (unfortunately, closed during my visit) Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican Museum. The statue was found in the ruins of the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta. It is a statue of the emperor himself, wearing a highly decorated cuirass and with his cloak wrapped around his hips, in the act of addressing his troops. The reliefs on the cuirass show a Parthian king in the act of returning to a Roman officer the standards lost by Crassus in 53 BC during the Battle of Carrhae, The whole scene is inserted into a cosmic landscale: at the top one can see the personification of the Heavens in the center, with the chariots of Apollo and Aurora alongside. At the bottom one can recognize Diana riding on the back of a hind, and, in the center, the goddess Earth. At his right leg is the god Eros, to remind us that his family claimed to have descended from the goddess Venus. The dolphin Eros rides refers to Augustus' destruction of Antony and Cleopatra's fleet in the sea battle of Actium.
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Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century AD, in the (unfortunately, closed during my visit) Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican Museum. The statue was found in the ruins of the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta. It is a statue of the emperor himself, wearing a highly decorated cuirass and with his cloak wrapped around his hips, in the act of addressing his troops. The reliefs on the cuirass show a Parthian king in the act of returning to a Roman officer the standards lost by Crassus in 53 BC during ght eBattle of Carrhae, The whole scene is inserted into a cosmic landscale: at the top one can see the personification of the Heavens in the center, with the chariots of Apollo and Aurora alongside. At the bottom one can recognize Diana riding on the back of a hind, and, in the center, the goddess Earth.
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Heavily-restored mosaic from the floors of the public libraries in the exedrae on the east and west sides of the Baths of Caracalla, now in the (unfortunately, closed during my visit) Gregoriano Profano Museum of the Vatican Museum. They are divided into square panels with images of athletes. The vigorous musculature of their bodies and the powerful lines of their features are created by a rich combination of colored tesserae. Although the baths were built at the beginning of the 3rd century AD, these mosaics probably date from restoration work undertaken at the beginning of the 4th century AD.
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Heavily-restored mosaic from the floors of the public libraries in the exedrae on the east and west sides of the Baths of Caracalla, now in the (unfortunately, closed during my visit) Gregoriano Profano Museum of the Vatican Museum. They are divided into square panels with images of athletes. The vigorous musculature of their bodies and the powerful lines of their features are created by a rich combination of colored tesserae. Although the baths were built at the beginning of the 3rd century AD, these mosaics probably date from restoration work undertaken at the beginning of the 4th century AD.
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Heavily-restored mosaic from the floors of the public libraries in the exedrae on the east and west sides of the Baths of Caracalla, now in the (unfortunately, closed during my visit) Gregoriano Profano Museum of the Vatican Museum. They are divided into square panels with images of athletes. The vigorous musculature of their bodies and the powerful lines of their features are created by a rich combination of colored tesserae. Although the baths were built at the beginning of the 3rd century AD, these mosaics probably date from restoration work undertaken at the beginning of the 4th century AD.
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Heavily-restored mosaic from the floors of the public libraries in the exedrae on the east and west sides of the Baths of Caracalla, now in the (unfortunately, closed during my visit) Gregoriano Profano Museum of the Vatican Museum. They are divided into square panels with images of athletes. The vigorous musculature of their bodies and the powerful lines of their features are created by a rich combination of colored tesserae. Although the baths were built at the beginning of the 3rd century AD, these mosaics probably date from restoration work undertaken at the beginning of the 4th century AD.
See all Vatican Museum photos.
    
Heavily-restored mosaic from the floors of the public libraries in the exedrae on the east and west sides of the Baths of Caracalla, now in the (unfortunately, closed during my visit) Gregoriano Profano Museum of the Vatican Museum. They are divided into square panels with images of athletes. The vigorous musculature of their bodies and the powerful lines of their features are created by a rich combination of colored tesserae. Although the baths were built at the beginning of the 3rd century AD, these mosaics probably date from restoration work undertaken at the beginning of the 4th century AD.
See all Vatican Museum photos.
    
Heavily-restored mosaic from the floors of the public libraries in the exedrae on the east and west sides of the Baths of Caracalla, now in the (unfortunately, closed during my visit) Gregoriano Profano Museum of the Vatican Museum. They are divided into square panels with images of athletes. The vigorous musculature of their bodies and the powerful lines of their features are created by a rich combination of colored tesserae. Although the baths were built at the beginning of the 3rd century AD, these mosaics probably date from restoration work undertaken at the beginning of the 4th century AD.
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Mosaic-portraits from the Cemetery of Cyriaca, from about 350, in the Gregoriano Profano Museum (?) in the Vatican Museum
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Mosaic-portraits from the Cemetery of Cyriaca, from about 350, in the Gregoriano Profano Museum (?) in the Vatican Museum
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Mosaic-portraits from the Cemetery of Cyriaca, from about 350, in the Gregoriano Profano Museum (?) in the Vatican Museum
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The Museo Gregoriano Profano exits at the spectacular Spiral Staircase designed by Bramante. Get a good look at the spiral stairway but don't go down it, and be careful not to exit the museum (I've never exited here so I'm not positive, but I think the exit is at the bottom of the staircase).

    
Bramante's staircase of the early 16th century in the Vatican Museum. It is a heliocoidal ramp with granite columns in the four orders and provided the inspiration for the 20th century entrance ramp.
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Bramante's staircase of the early 16th century in the Vatican Museum. It is a heliocoidal ramp with granite columns in the four orders and provided the inspiration for the 20th century entrance ramp.
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After seeing the staircase, retrace your steps back to the entrance to the Pinacoteca, but turn left down long hallway instead, heading toward the Museo Gregoriano Egizio and Museo Pio Clementino, the ancient section of the Vatican Museum. Pass through the Egyptian Pillars to enter the section of Mummies, Egyptian Statues, Hieroglyphics, the Apollo Belvedere, Laocoon, the Hall of Animals, the Belvedere Torso, Hercules and the Porphyry Basin, and Sarcophegi. Be sure to continue walking straight past the Museo Gregoriano Egizio at this point because turning in there puts you on the Short Itinerary through the museum. Instead we want to go to the very end of the hall, following the Complete Itinerary. However, on the way, just past the entrance to the Museo Gregoriano Egizio, take the exit outdoors into the Courtyard of the Pine Cone (Cortile della Pigna) and remember how to get back to that doorway to continue walking straight to the end of the hallway you were just in. The Courtyard of the Pine Cone is a highlight of the Vatican Museum because of the history of the Pine Cone itself (read it in the caption to the 5th photo below), and the Sphere Within Sphere (3rd photo below) because everybody takes a photo of it, and because by now you can use an outdoor break.

    
The Cortile della Pigna, in the Vatican Museum
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'Sphere Within Sphere' by Pomodoro in the Cortile della Pigna, in the Vatican Museum
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'Sphere Within Sphere' by Pomodoro in the Cortile della Pigna, in the Vatican Museum
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An Egyptian Lion of Nectanebo from 360-343 BC, from the Nile Delta area, now in the Cortile della Pigna, in the Vatican Museum
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The Bronze Pine Cone in the Cortile della Pigna, in the Vatican Museum. The Pine Cone was found near the Pantheon around the Baths of Agrippa (the guy who first built the Pantheon, and who was also Emperor Augustus' right-hand man) where it was once a giant fountain, with water coming out of the top and scales and running down the sides.
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The Fontona della Pigna, made up of the Bronze Pine Cone and Egyptian Lions of Nectanebo from 360-343 BC and bronze peacocks which are copies of those decorating the tomb of Hadrian, in the Cortile della Pigna, in the Vatican Museum
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The enormous posthumous portrait of the Divine Augustus, discovered in the 16th century on the Aventine Hill, now in the Cortile della Pigna, in the Vatican Museum
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Come back from the courtyard to the same hallway you were walking down, in the same direction you were walking, to the end (a "T"). Look off to the right and you'll find long single-hallway of the Museo Chiaramonti. It's filled with ancient sculptures and busts and was closed when I visited, but you can still probably take a look. If it's open, feel free to walk through it and back around the courtyard to this spot. Here are my two photos of the closed gallery from its entrance:

    
A peek into the Gallery of Statues and the Hall of Busts (which was closed during my visit) in the Chiaramonti Museum of the Vatican Museum
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A peek into the Gallery of Statues and the Hall of Busts (which was closed during my visit) in the Chiaramonti Museum of the Vatican Museum
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Now go back to the "T" and turn left into the Museo Pio Clementino. The last two photos below show one of the highlights of the Vatican Museums, the famous Apollo Belvedere, a Roman copy made during the 4th century BC, of a Greek original that features perfect anatomy and a natural pose, unlike the stiff poses of prior times.

    
The Sarcophagus of Scipione Barbato, consul in 290 BC, a peperino tufa sarcophagus made in 280-270 BC for the grandfather of Scipio Africanus who defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War, in the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum
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The Sarcophagus of Scipione Barbato, consul in 290 BC, a peperino tufa sarcophagus made in 280-270 BC for the grandfather of Scipio Africanus who defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War, in the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum
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'The Apoxyomenos', an ancient greek athlete scraping off the oils used to anoint his body before competitions with sand and a spoon called a strigil, a 50 AD copy in marble of the bronze masterpiece by Lysippus around 320 BC, in the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum
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The 'Apollo Belvedere', a celebrated marble sculpture of the Greek god Apollo after just having shot a death-dealing arrow, a 120-240 AD copy of a Greek bronze original from 350-325 BC by Leochares, now in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum
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The 'Apollo Belvedere', a celebrated marble sculpture of the Greek god Apollo after just having shot a death-dealing arrow, a 120-240 AD copy of a Greek bronze original from 350-325 BC by Leochares, now in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum
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Continuing in the Museo Pio Clementino:

    
This relief, in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum, with a representation of Europe on the bull goes back to a Greek legend. She tells of the Phoenician princess Europa, playing at the beach of Tyre, as a bull comes out of the sea and approaches her. She strokes him and scattered flowers on his head. As it suggests the bull to climb on his back, it does so, and the bull floats suddenly with her about it. Once on the island of Crete, the bull is showing its true face., The Greek Zeus. Because of his jealous wife Hera, he had the form of a bull adopted to silently approach the Europe of Hera. He fathered three sons Europe named Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamantys and the goddess Aphrodite promised that the continent, for the part of Crete, will be named after the princess Europe.
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An unidentified frieze behind the Belvedere Apollo in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum
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The River God Arno, dating from 117-138 AD, inspired by a Greek prototype, in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum (notice the face inside the jug)
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An unidentified granite tub, in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum
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Satyr bearing the child of Dionysus, a marble Roman copy of the 2nd century AD of a Greek original of the 4th century BC, in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum
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Continuing in the Museo Pio Clementino, another highlight of the Vatican Museum, Laocoon and His Sons (2nd and 3rd photos below) tried to warn the Trojans not to allow the Trojan Horse into the city, but the gods, wanting the Greeks to win, sent huge snakes to crush Laocoon and his two sons to death, as told by the middle of Book 2 of Virgil's Aeneid. This was sculpted in the 5th or 4th century BC, and features unquestionable motion and emotion. It was lost for 1000 years, but found in the ruins of Nero's Golden House. You can read all about this famous sculpture on Wikipedia.

    
5th of 6 parts of the upper register of the Side with Augustus of the Ara Pacis, in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum
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'Laocoon and his Sons', described by Pliny the Elder as a masterpiece of the sculptors of Rhodes, from 40-30 BC, in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum. Laocoon was a priest of Apollo in the city of Troy who warned his fellow Trojans against taking in the wooden horse left by the Greeks outside the city gates, Athena and Poseidon, who favored the Greeks, sent two great sea serpents which have wrapped their coils around Laocoon and his two sons and are killing them. From the Roman point of view, the death of these innocents was crucial to the decision by Aeneas, who heeded Laocoon's warning, to flee troy, and this led to the eventual founding of Rome.
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'Laocoon and his Sons', described by Pliny the Elder as a masterpiece of the sculptors of Rhodes, from 40-30 BC, in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio Clementino of the Vatican Museum. Laocoon was a priest of Apollo in the city of Troy who warned his fellow Trojans against taking in the wooden horse left by the Greeks outside the city gates, Athena and Poseidon, who favored the Greeks, sent two great sea serpents which have wrapped their coils around Laocoon and his two sons and are killing them. From the Roman point of view, the death of these innocents was crucial to the decision by Aeneas, who heeded Laocoon's warning, to flee troy, and this led to the eventual founding of Rome.
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Sculpture of a Dog, in the Hall of the Animals of the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican Museum
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Lioness attacking a sheep, in the Vatican Museum
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Still in the Museo Pio Clementino, The Belvedere Torso (4th photo below), with its knotty muscles and raw power, was a favorite of Michelangelo. Did he recapture the personality of the Belvedere Torso in his Moses?

    
Sculpture of a german shorthair pointer in the Vatican Museum
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Sculpture of Mithras and a sacrificial bull in the Vatican Museum
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Sculpture of a lion hunting a horse in the Vatican Museum
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Belvedere Torso sculpture in the Vatican Museum
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Meleager, mythical hero of Aetolia, shown here with his hunting dog on his right, and the head of a boar which he has just killed on his left, a 2nd century copy of a 4th-century BC greek original attributed to Skopas, in the Hall of the Animals of the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican Museum
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Still in the Museo Pio Clementino, the first 2 photos below were shot in the Sala Rotonda, or Rotunda Room, of the Vatican Museum, another of the highlights of the museum. The room is patterned after the Pantheon, with a dome of little niches and an oculus in the center. The floor is made of tiny mosaics from around the 2nd century AD which used to decorate an ancient Roman villa. And the red 40-foot-diameter porphyry basin in the center of the room. Porphyry is extremely hard volcanic rock made from cooled lava, extremely heavy, and it all came from one quarry in Ancient Egypt. The Emperor Nero ordered this particular bath for his Domus Aurea (Golden House) palace.

    
This gilded bronze statue of the young Hercules, now in the Rotunda of the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican Museum, shown leaning on his club, with the skin of the Nemean lion over his arm, and the apples of the Hesperides in his left hand, was found in 1864 beneath the courtyard of the Palazzo Pio Righetti, near Campo de' Fiori, in the area of Pompey's Theatre. The work was, perhaps, inspired by a model from the Attic School of between 390 and 370 BC and has been variously dated to between the end of the 1st and the beginning of the 3rd century AD.
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Gigantic red porphyry basin first recorded in the 16th century in front of the Curia in the Roman Forum, where it seems to have been set up as a public fountain in the 4th or 5th century, after having been originally made for one of the great imperial baths, now in the Rotunda of the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican Museum
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Red Porphyry Sarcophagus of St. Helen, mother of Constantine the Great, who died around 335 AD, carved with military scenes with Roman soldiers on horseback and barbarian prisoners, now in the Greek Cross Hall of the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican Museum. On the lid of the sarcophagus figures of cupids and victories hold garlands, while on the very top there are two lions on either side of the ridge, one sleeping, the other lying down.
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Red Porphyry Sarcophagus of St. Helen, mother of Constantine the Great, who died around 335 AD, carved with military scenes with Roman soldiers on horseback and barbarian prisoners, now in the Greek Cross Hall of the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican Museum. On the lid of the sarcophagus figures of cupids and victories hold garlands, while on the very top there are two lions on either side of the ridge, one sleeping, the other lying down.
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Red Porphyry Sarcophagus of Constantia, daughter of Constantine the Great, who died in 354 AD, and was buried in a mausoleum beside the Basilica of St. Agnes, now in the Greek Cross Hall of the Vatican Museum. The coffin is decorated on all four sides with garlands and grape vines, large acanthus scrolls and cupids treading grapes. Below there are two peacocks, a ram and a cupid with garland. The Dionysian decoration of the grape harvest also appears in the exquisitely refined mosaic decoration of the vault of the mausoleum of Constantia.
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Mosaic of Athena, from the 1st century BC, on the floor of the Greek Cross Hall of the Museo Pio Clementino in the Vatican Museum
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Mosaic, in the Vatican Museum
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And with that, we come to the end of the Museo Pio Clementino and now enter the Museo Gregoriano Egizio (Gregorian Egyptian Museum).

    
Egyptian Heiroglyphics in the Vatican Museum
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Funeral Stele of the priest Pashertasher, 3rd-1st century BC, in Room I of the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Fragment relief from an Egyptian tomb of 1550-1307 BC, in Room I of the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Wooden Coffin of Metapheres, 750-700 BC, in Room I or II of the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Male Egyptian Mummy in its case, from 1000 BC, from the Necropolis of Deir el-Bahri in Thebes, in Room II of the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Male Egyptian Mummy in its case, from 1000 BC, from the Necropolis of Deir el-Bahri in Thebes, in Room II of the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Fayum Portrait of a Young Man, 220-250 AD, in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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The 'Vatican Naophoros', a statue of the priest Udjahorresne carrying a naos depicting the god Osiris, green basalt, 525-404 BC, in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Statue of Osiris-Antinus, marble, from Hadrian's Villa, 131-138 AD, in Room III of the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Statue of Osiris-Antinus, marble, from Hadrian's Villa, 131-138 AD, in Room III of the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Statue of the Nile, 1st-2nd century AD, in Room IV of the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Colossal statue of queen Tuya, from Thebes, Ramesseum, reign of Ramses II, 1279-1213 BC, that portrays queen Tuya, an important historical figure, wife of the pharoah Sethi I (1294-1279 BC) and venerated mother of his successor, Ramses II (1279-1213 BC), and was brought from here to Rome by Caligula (37-41 AD), together with the statues of Ptolemy Philadelphos and Arsinoe II to decorate the Sallustian gardens, where they were found in the 18th century near the present-day Piazza Fiume, but are now in the Room V of Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Colossal statues of Ptolemy II, from Heliopolis, 285-246 BC, one of the promoters of the Hellenization of Egypt during the second quarter of the 3rd century BC, brought to Rome by Caligula (37-41 AD) to decorate the Sallustian gardens and decorated the same pavilion in which the Statue of queen Tuya had been placed, near the present-day Piazza Fiume, now in Room V of Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Colossal statues of Arsinoe II, from Heliopolis, 285-246 BC, one of the promoters of the Hellenization of Egypt during the second quarter of the 3rd century BC, brought to Rome by Caligula (37-41 AD) to decorate the Sallustian gardens and decorated the same pavilion in which the Statue of queen Tuya had been placed, near the present-day Piazza Fiume, now in Room V of Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum. On this occasion Caligula had a copy made of the statue of queen Arsinoe II in honour of his sister Drusilla, whom he had married and whom he wanted to celebrate as a divinity. The mania for greatness of the emperor brought him in fact to comparing himself with the pharaohs, to whom the divine nature was not denied.
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Colossal statues of Arsinoe II, from Heliopolis, 285-246 BC, one of the promoters of the Hellenization of Egypt during the second quarter of the 3rd century BC, brought to Rome by Caligula (37-41 AD) to decorate the Sallustian gardens and decorated the same pavilion in which the Statue of queen Tuya had been placed, near the present-day Piazza Fiume, now in Room V of Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum. On this occasion Caligula had a copy made of the statue of queen Arsinoe II in honour of his sister Drusilla, whom he had married and whom he wanted to celebrate as a divinity. The mania for greatness of the emperor brought him in fact to comparing himself with the pharaohs, to whom the divine nature was not denied.
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Inscription of Sargon II, 721-705 BC, in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Inscription of Sargon II, 721-705 BC, in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Eagle-headed winged genius worshipping the Sacred Tree, 883-859 BC, in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio of the Vatican Museum
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Next go upstairs to see the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco (Gregorian Etruscan Museum).

    
Mosaic, in the Vatican Museum
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A pair of sheet bronze hands, decorated with a series of golden buttons, from Vulci, during the first half of the 7th century BC, in Room I of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum. Decorated with small golden studs and very long fingers, they are made from a single bronze sheet, closed at the wrist and slightly folded at the edges.
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Chariot from 550-540 BC, from the estate of Roma Vecchia, of laminated and melted bronze, on modern wooden reconstruction, in Room I of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum. A worthy example of bronze art is given by the metal cap with the eagle's head that covered the extremity of the shaft, finished off with a chisel and a punch.
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This gold breastplate from the mid 7th century BC, in Room II of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum. was worn by the deceased woman along with her fibula. It consists of a single laminated sheet shaped and decorated with embossed work with a series of 16 different punches. The decoration is divided into strips that follow the margins, going around the central emblem, and are characterized by the serial repetition of the same motif. Starting from the outer strip we see the following series of illustrations: broken line, grazing male ibex, winged lion, chimera with two protomes, pegasus, rear view of lion, grazing deer, woman in a tunic with a palm frond, winged lion, winged woman, lion. In the central emblem: semicircular decorations with overlapping spirals and stems, winged lions, women with palms and four male figures, each holding the front paws of a pair of rampant lions.
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This enormouse gold fibula (ancient version of the modern safety pin) from the mid 7th century BC, now in Room I of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum, decorated with geometrical motifs, of plant and animal inspiration, executed with various sophisticated techniques: granulation, embossing, punching, would have decorated the body of the deceased, like the breastplate. The small ducks in full relief on the arch are obtained by welding together the two halves obtained from an embossed sheet. The lions on the disk are also embossed and cut from another sheet.
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Ancient gold fibula (safety pin), in Room II of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum
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Ancient gold jewelry, in Room II of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum
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Ancient bowl in the Vatican Museum
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Ancient Bowl in the Vatican Museum
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'The Mars of Todi', a 5th century BC Etruscan bronze statue of a warrior wearing a curiass and holding an iron lance, in the act of pouring a libation from a patera before a battle, in Room III of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum
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'The Mars of Todi', a 5th century BC Etruscan bronze statue of a warrior wearing a curiass and holding an iron lance, in the act of pouring a libation from a patera before a battle, in Room III of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum
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Pair of lions, from Vulci, late 6th century BC, now in Room IV of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum. These lions were found in a chamber tomb, where they had been placed to guard the entrance. Their threatening appearance, with their jaws wide open, is in agreement with the function attributed to them which reveals faith in a survival of the deceased within the confines of the tomb. The model of the sculpture follows the lines of archaic art.
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Pair of horses in the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum
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Sarcophagus in nenfro with a semi-recumbant man on the cover and an inscription engraved on the coffin, from Orte in the late 2nd century BC, in Room IV of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum
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Etruscan sarcophagus, in the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum
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Four polychrome terra-cotta architectural plaques with floral decoration and human heads from Cerveteri in the 4th century BC, in Room V or VI of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum. A frieze of scrolls rising from acanthus flowers frames male (Dionysis?) and female (Ariadne? or Meneads?) heads. The plaques, not fitting properly, were applied to the beams of a temple roof.
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Terra-cotta pedimental decoration in high relief from Tivoli, recalling the iconography of the Golden Fleece and illustrating the expedition of the Argonauts, from a temple of the late 4th to 3rd century BC, in Room V or VI of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum
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Terra-cotta pedimental decoration in high relief from Tivoli, recalling the iconography of the Golden Fleece and illustrating the expedition of the Argonauts, from a temple of the late 4th to 3rd century BC, in Room V or VI of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum
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Alabaster cinerary urn of the 'Master of Oenomaos', from the early 2nd century BC, in Room X or XI of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum. Portrayed on the cover are a man and wife lying on a kline in the act of banqueting. They are sculpted in the round. In bas-relief on the casket is Pelops killing Oenomaus. Oenomaus, lord of Pisa in the Elide, used to challenge the suitors of his daughter Hippodamia in a fatal chariot race, from Pisa to the Isthmus of Corinth, during which he reached them and killed them by piercing them with his spear. Only Pelops managed finally to defeat him, using the horses received as a gift from Poseidon, or, according to another version, by corrupting Myrtilus, Oenomaus' charioteer, who sabotaged a wheel of his sovereign's chariot. A winged female demon, shown high up in the centre, intervenes actively in the fight, which is presented with an extremely animated and articulated composition on a number of levels.
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Polychrome terra-cotta funeral monument with the 'Dying Adonis', 250-200 BC, in Room X or XI of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum. It shows the mythical youth Adonis, who was being fought over by Aphrodite and Persephone, as a hunter lying on a bed, mortally wounded by a wild boar. The moving scene is rendered with great care, both because it provides some links with the final act of the deceased, and because it was a favourite among the many themes of the Greek myth which from the 4th century onwards are present in the Etruscan idea of the afterworld. Often mistakenly indicated as a cinerary urn, it is actually complete in itself, without any cavities suitable for containing ashes. Inside it are intersecting terra-cotta partitions with a structural function. The holes that can be seen on the surface guaranteed the homogeneous areation of the clay during its drying and firing. It is quite likely that it belonged on top of the casket of a cinerary urn.
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Polychrome terra-cotta funeral monument with the 'Dying Adonis', 250-200 BC, in Room X or XI of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum. It shows the mythical youth Adonis, who was being fought over by Aphrodite and Persephone, as a hunter lying on a bed, mortally wounded by a wild boar. The moving scene is rendered with great care, both because it provides some links with the final act of the deceased, and because it was a favourite among the many themes of the Greek myth which from the 4th century onwards are present in the Etruscan idea of the afterworld. Often mistakenly indicated as a cinerary urn, it is actually complete in itself, without any cavities suitable for containing ashes. Inside it are intersecting terra-cotta partitions with a structural function. The holes that can be seen on the surface guaranteed the homogeneous areation of the clay during its drying and firing. It is quite likely that it belonged on top of the casket of a cinerary urn.
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The animal at the bottom of the 'Dying Adonis', 250-200 BC, in Room X or XI of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum.
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The upper part of a bronze monumental statue of the late 1st century BC, in Room XIV of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum. This large fragment of a statue of monumental size, slightly larger than in real life, is one of the few examples of bronze statuary that can still be dated to the 1st cent. BC. The bronze, hollow inside, made with the technique of indirect lost-wax fusion, is a male portrait idealized according to the canons of the heroized type, given its naked trunk, covered only by a mantle falling over the shoulder and the left arm. The huge and greatly lengthened neck was probably an expedient for optical correction taking into account that the statue would be viewed from below. It is also quite likely that originally the statue was placed on a high pedestal. The life like effect of the statue was originally heightened by insertions of different materials that faithfully reproduced the eyeballs.
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Three architectural terra-cotta plaques, the so-called 'Campana Plaques', with Hercules fighting the Lernean Hydra, Hercules fighting the Nemean Lion, and Hecules capturing the Cretan Bull, from the first half of the 1st century AD, in the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum
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This famous amphora, signed by Exekias both as potter and painter, from 540-530 BC, shows Achilles and Ajax in armour intent on playing with dice, and is now in Room XIX of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum. The amphora is one of the most refined products of the black-figure style, with details and decorations of the clothes engraved with calligraphic care. With the typical solemnity of his style, the ceramist grasps the moment when the two heroes, having temporarily laid down their arms during the long siege of Troy, devote themselves to play. Achilles and Ajax, indicated by the insciptions, seated on low supports, lean towards a pedestal, stretching out their right arms, to read the points gained in the game, respectively four and three, as specified by the inscriptions that seem to emerge cartoon-like from their mouths. On the other side of the vase the family of the Dioscuri is shown: Castor is holding his horse by the bridle and turning towards Leda, while Pollux is playing with a dog, and Tindareus caresses the muzzle of Castor's horse.
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This famous amphora, signed by Exekias both as potter and painter, from 540-530 BC, shows Achilles and Ajax in armour intent on playing with dice, and is now in Room XIX of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco of the Vatican Museum. The amphora is one of the most refined products of the black-figure style, with details and decorations of the clothes engraved with calligraphic care. With the typical solemnity of his style, the ceramist grasps the moment when the two heroes, having temporarily laid down their arms during the long siege of Troy, devote themselves to play. Achilles and Ajax, indicated by the insciptions, seated on low supports, lean towards a pedestal, stretching out their right arms, to read the points gained in the game, respectively four and three, as specified by the inscriptions that seem to emerge cartoon-like from their mouths. On the other side of the vase the family of the Dioscuri is shown: Castor is holding his horse by the bridle and turning towards Leda, while Pollux is playing with a dog, and Tindareus caresses the muzzle of Castor's horse.
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The gigantic bronze pine cone, the bronze peacocks by its side, and the 'Sphere Within Sphere' sculpture by Pomodoro, all in the Cortile delle Pigna, from a window in Room XIX of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum
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Attic red-figure kylix by Douris, from 480-470 BC, in Room XIX of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum. The hero Jason, son of Aeson, reaches Colchis in order to obtain the Golden Fleece of the sacred ram and carry it back to claim the throne usurped by Pelias. But the Golden Fleece has been consecrated to Ares by the king, Aietes, who has placed an enormous dragon to guard it. In this scene, Jason has been caught by the dragon, but Athena has arrived to save him. Athena gazes towards the dragon's head, where Jason is still between its jaws, while behind, the golden Fleece can be seen hanging from the branch of an oak tree. In this piece, and particularly in the imaginative rendering of the monstrous dragon, the creative abilities of the master of design, Douris, can be appreciated.
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Attic red-figure kylix by Douris, from 480-470 BC, in Room XIX of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum. The hero Jason, son of Aeson, reaches Colchis in order to obtain the Golden Fleece of the sacred ram and carry it back to claim the throne usurped by Pelias. But the Golden Fleece has been consecrated to Ares by the king, Aietes, who has placed an enormous dragon to guard it. In this scene, Jason has been caught by the dragon, but Athena has arrived to save him. Athena gazes towards the dragon's head, where Jason is still between its jaws, while behind, the golden Fleece can be seen hanging from the branch of an oak tree. In this piece, and particularly in the imaginative rendering of the monstrous dragon, the creative abilities of the master of design, Douris, can be appreciated.
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Attic red-figure hydria from Vulci, in 490 BC, by the Painter of Berlin, in Room XXI of the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco in the Vatican Museum. On this hydria (3-handled vase used for drawing water) Apollo is shown seated on a large tripod provided with wings from which he can survey the sea, escorted by two dolphins seen diving into the water. This masterpiece, which the Painter of Berlin (so called after his amphora in the Berlin Museums) executed in his youthful phase is one of the most beautiful and attractive representations of Apollo in Greek art.
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Next up in the museum is a 1/4-mile-long hallway to test your endurance. It's crowded since everyone is condensed into a narrow hallway, and everyone is getting antsy to see the highlight at the end of the museum, the Sistine Chapel. But enjoy the journey, while you're here. The first part of the hallway, called the Gallery of the Candelabra has more sculptures, among them, Diana the Huntress (1st and 2nd photos below), Artemis (3rd photo), and Bacchus (I missed photograph him).

    
Diana the Huntress, in the Gallery of the Candelabra of the Vatican Museum
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Diana the Huntress, in the Gallery of the Candelabra of the Vatican Museum
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The 'Ephesus' Artemis, found in Hadrian's Villa, now in the Gallery of the Candelabra of the Vatican Museum. The work is original in its combination of Greek and Oriental elements, with the close rows of overlapping breasts, interpreted by some to be bulls' testicles.
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'Group with Satyr and Pan' shows a kneeling Pan trying to remove a thorn from the foot of a young satyr, portrayed leaning against rocks, in the Gallery of the Candelabra of the Vatican Museum
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'The Persian Warrior' is shown in the moment of attempting an extremely defensive movement away from the enemy, his body moving backwards and raising his right arm which wields his sword, in the Gallery of the Candelabra of the Vatican Museum. The horror of this defeat is made more dramatic by the expression on the face. This is a Roman copy from 110-120 AD of Greek originals from 160-150 BC on the Acropolis in Athens and at Pergamon.
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'The Persian Warrior' is shown in the moment of attempting an extremely defensive movement away from the enemy, his body moving backwards and raising his right arm which wields his sword, in the Gallery of the Candelabra of the Vatican Museum. The horror of this defeat is made more dramatic by the expression on the face. This is a Roman copy from 110-120 AD of Greek originals from 160-150 BC on the Acropolis in Athens and at Pergamon.
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Once the statues end and the tapestries begin, you're in the Gallery of the Taperstries (Galleria degli Arazzi). I under-appreciated this section but some people consider this a highlight of the Vatican Museum. The ceiling is cool - even I noticed it - it is painted in 3D (1st and 2nd photos below). The right wall holds 17th century tapestries depicting scenes from Pope Urban VIII (Barberini)'s life. The ones on the left were woven in Brussels during the 1500s, and they depict the life of Jesus.

    
3D painted ceilings in the Gallery of Tapestries of the Vatican Museum
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3D painted ceilings in the Gallery of Tapestries of the Vatican Museum
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The Last Supper tapestry in the Gallery of the Taperstries of the Vatican Museum
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Adoration of the Shepherds tapestry in the Gallery of the Taperstries of the Vatican Museum
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Adoration of the Maji tapestry in the Gallery of the Taperstries of the Vatican Museum
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Tapestry in the Gallery of the Taperstries of the Vatican Museum
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A tapestry copy of Rubens' Romulus and Remus Suckled by the She-Wolf, in the Hall of the Tapestries of the Capitoline Museum
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Next is the Gallery of Maps (Galleria delle Carte Geografiche), which I also underappreciated but some people think is a highlight of the Vatican Museum. I was taken by the ceiling (it's one of the most photographed ceilings in the museum), but I completely missed the significance of the maps, created in the 1500s.

    
The 'Corridor of Torture', in the Gallery of Maps of the Vatican Museum
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Painted Ceilings in the long hallway, in the Vatican Museum
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Ceiling Painting, in the Vatican Museum
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Ceiling Painting, in the Vatican Museum
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At the end of the long hallway is the Room of the Immaculate Conception, with frescoed walls shown in the first two photos below. After that are the four Raphael Rooms which are another highlight of the Vatican Museum. After a day walking through this huge museum in sometimes oppresive heat and often oppresive crowds, I can't possibly do better than Wikipedia in documenting the Raphael Rooms, please see its page for quality photos of all walls and ceilings, along with descriptions of them. The Raphael Rooms show huge works of art. Raphael's Constantine Frescoes, 1517-1524, depict the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, in which Constantine saw a sign from God, used it in battle to defeat Maxentius, then made Christianity the official religion of Rome. The ceiling shows a pagan statue knocked to the ground and broken, with a Christian cross dominating above it. A room further on, the Liberation of St. Peter, depicts the moment that angels appeared to the imprisoned St. Peter and rescued him by breaking his chains (those chains are now in the church of St. Peter in Chains). The School of Athens celebrate the rebirth of learning during the Renaissance. La Disputa depicts religion during the Renaissance.

    
Matejko's 'Sobieski Liberating Vienna', in the first of the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, showing the Polish King Sobieski liberating Vienna from the Ottomans in 1683, finally tipping the tide in favor of a Christian Europe. of the Vatican Museum, showing the Polish King Sobieski liberating Vienna from the Ottomans in 1683, finally tipping the tide in favor of a Christian Europe.
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The Proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, in the Room of the Immaculate Conception of the Vatican Museum
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Two Constantine Frescoes (The Battle of the Milvian Bridge, on the left, and Baptism of Constantine, on the right), in the Hall of Constantine Raphael Room of the Vatican Museum
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The ceiling in the Hall of Constantine Raphael Room of the Vatican Museum
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The Apparition of the Cross, in the Hall of Constantine in the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, describes a premonition the emperor had before the battle against Maxentius, according to which he would be victorious if he substituted the imperial eagles on the soldier's insignia with the cross, thus officially acknowledging Christianity. Note the view of Rome in the right background with ancient monuments.
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The Battle of the Milvian Bridge, in the Hall of Constantine in the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, took place in the year 312 when Constantine overcame Maxentius, who is seen drowning in the Tiber, marking the victory of CHristianity over the pagan world. The scenen is set in the north of Rome with Monte Mario on the left and Villa Madama, built during those years by Raphael for the pope. As with the Apparition of the Cross painting, Raphael started the project, however it was carried out by his pupil Giulio Romano.
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In the Baptism of Constantine, in the Hall of Constantine in the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, the kneeling emperor is receiving the sacraments from Pope Silvester in the Lateran Bapistry. The pope has the features of Clement VII, during whose papacy it was painted.
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Emperor Constantine is kneeling before Pope Silvester in the Donation of Rome, in the Hall of Constantine in the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, symbolized by his gift of a gilt statuette. This legendary episode was based on the founding of the church state and the justification of papal temporal power. Silvester still has Clement VII's features, during whose papacy it was painted, and the spisode documents the interior of the later destroyed early Christian Basilica of St. Peters.
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Emperor Constantine is kneeling before Pope Silvester in the Donation of Rome, in the Hall of Constantine in the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, symbolized by his gift of a gilt statuette. This legendary episode was based on the founding of the church state and the justification of papal temporal power. Silvester still has Clement VII's features, during whose papacy it was painted, and the spisode documents the interior of the later destroyed early Christian Basilica of St. Peters.
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Raphael's 'The Expulsion of Heliodorus From the Temple', in the Room of Heliodorus of the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, from whom the room takes its name, illustrates the biblical episode (2 Maccabees, 3:21-28) of Heliodorus, sent by the king of Syria Seleucus, to take over the treasure preserved in the temple of Jerusalem. At the request of the high priest Onias, God sends a horseman assisted by two youths who beatt and banish Heliodorus. The commissioning pontiff has himself shown as witnessing the scene (in the foreground on the left) seated in the gestatorial chair, carried on the shoulders of the chair bearers. Of these, that on the left is a portrait of Marcantonio Raimondi, engraver and friend of Raphael, who is himself portrayed in the other figure to the right.
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Raphael's 'The Liberation of St Peter', in the Room of Heliodorus of the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, shows the prince of the apostles and first Pope, miraculously saved from prison by an angel while the guards lie sleeping (Acts of the Apostles 12:5-12). The scene is a reference to Julius II (pontiff from 1503 to 1513), who before being elected Pope was the titular cardinal of St Peter in Chains. In the celebration of light Raphael confronts the divine light of the angel with that of the dawn, of the moon, of the torches and of their reflections on the armour, and even of the natural light that enters from the window below, creating the most extraordinary effects.
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Raphael's 'The Encounter Between Leo the Great and Attila', in the Room of Heliodorus of the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, is the last fresco painted in this room. It was completed after the death of Julius II (pontiff from 1503 to 1513), during the pontificate of his successor Leo X (pontiff from 1513 to 1521). In fact the latter appears twice in the same scene, portrayed in the guise of Pope Leo the Great and as cardinal. According to legend, the miraculous apparition of Saints Peter and Paul armed with swords during the meeting between Pope Leo the Great and Attila (452 A.D.) caused the king of the Huns to desist from invading Italy and marching on Rome. Raphael situates the scene at the gates of Rome, identified by the Colosseum, by an aqueduct, an obelisk and other buildings, even if in fact the historical event took place in the north of Italy, near Mantua.
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Raphael's 'The Mass of Bolsena', in the Room of Heliodorus of the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, depicts an episode that took place in 1263 in Bolsena, near Orvieto. During the Mass celebrated by a Bohemian priest, at the moment of consecration the blood of Christ trickled from the host, staining the corporal and thus dismissing the doubts of the celebrant on transubstantiation (that is to say the changing of the substance of the bread and wine into that of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist). The miracle led to the establishment of the feast of Corpus Christ and the construction of the cathedral of Orvieto, to which the corporal was transferred. Julius II (pontiff from 1503 to 1513), witnesses the miracle kneeling to the right of the altar, with cardinals Leonardo Grosso della Rovere and Raffaello Riario, Tommaso Riario and Agostino Spinola, his relatives and the chair bearers of the group.
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Raphael's 'Disputation over the Most Holy Sacrament', in the Room of the Segnatura of the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum. On the wall opposite the School of Athens, corresponding to Theology, is the fresco of the so-called Disputation of the Most Holy Sacrament, the title of which should more rightly be that of the Triumph of Religion. At the sides of the Most Holy Trinity (with God the Father, Christ between the Virgin and St John the Baptist, and the Holy Spirit in the centre) is the Triumphant Church, with patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament alternated with apostles and martyrs, seated in a hemicycle on the clouds. The personages are (from left to right for the viewer). St Peter, Adam, St John the Evangelist, David, St Laurence, Judas Maccabees, St Stephen, Moses, St James the elder, Abraham, St Paul. On the ground, at the sides of the altar on which the Most Holy Sacrament dominates, is the Militant Church. On the marble thrones closest to the altar sit four Fathers of the Latin Church: St Gregory the Great (a portrait of Julius II), St Jerome, St Ambrose and St Augustine. Some other figures have the physiognomy of historical personages. We recognize the portrait of Sixtus IV (Julius II's uncle) in the pontiff furthest to the right, of Dante Alighieri behind him and of Beato Angelico in the monk on the extreme left.
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Raphael's 'The School of Athens', in the Room of the Segnatura of the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum. The most famous philosophers of ancient times move within an imposing Renaissance architecture which is inspired by Bramante's project for the renewal of the early Christian basilica of St Peter. Some of these are easily recognizable. In the centre Plato points upwards with a finger and holds his book Timeus in his hand, flanked by Aristotle, in the blue cloak, with Ethics. Pythagoras is shown in the foreground intent on explaining the diatesseron. Diogenes is lying on the stairs with a dish, while the pessimist philosopher, Heracleitus, a portrait of Michelangelo, is leaning against a block of marble, writing on a sheet of paper. Michelangelo was in those years executing the paintings in the nearby Sistine Chapel. On the right we see Euclid, who is teaching geometry to his pupils, Zoroaster holding the heavenly sphere and Ptolemy holding the earthly sphere. The personage on the extreme right with the black beret is a self-portrait of Raphael.
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After this you'll go back downstairs to see the Borgia Apartment, where you'll see few rooms of modern art.

    
Colosseum, modern art in the Vatican Museum
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Modern art in the Vatican Museum
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Modern art in the Vatican Museum
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Modern art in the Vatican Museum
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Modern art in the Vatican Museum
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The last stop in the Vatican Museum is the Sistine Chapel, where no photos are permitted. Remember where the door is that you walked in. Once you've made it into the chapel, take your time and enjoy the world-renowned artwork of Michelangelo; remember that you'll likely not be returning here ever again, and an extra half-hour here won't matter much to the schedule in the long-run of your life. This is the highlight of the Vatican Museum. Be sure to study the ceiling, the walls, the cosmetique mosaic floor, and the Last Judgement. Then either exit the side of the chapel to walk back to the exit near the museum's entrance to turn in your audio guide or pick up your checked bag, or exit out diagonally from where you entered, blending in with a tour group to enter St. Peter's Basilica, which you're right next to at this point, without the long walk outside. If that door diagonal to where you entered the chapel is closed, just hang out for a few minutes; you'll get your chance when some tour group leaves.

I'm not going to attempt to explain the Sistine Chapel better than the Wikipedia articles about the ceiling and about it's history, but I can give you these clues to orient yourself to what you're seeing. First, running down the spine of the ceiling (1st photo below) are 9 rectangular scenes from the old testament. Starting at the front of the chapel (the right side of the 1st photo below), the 9 rectangular panels show

  1. The Separation of Light and Darkness
  2. The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Earth
  3. The Separation of Land and Water
  4. The Creation of Adam (the famous image of God reaching out to touch Adam's finger)
  5. The Creation of Eve
  6. The Temptation and Expulsion
  7. The Sacrifice of Noah
  8. The Great Flood
  9. The Drunkenness of Noah
Beside that central spine are alternating squares which show the Prophets (the largest figures on the ceiling) and triangles which show the Ancestors of Christ.

    
The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (not my photo)
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At the end with the altar is the huge painting of The Last Judgment (center of 1st photo below), painted 23 years after the ceiling, which shows how the righteous (on the left) are carried up to heaven and the wicked (on the right) are pushed down for their punishment. If a long study of this grim wall with no one smiling can't make you straighten up and fly right, you might want to give up trying. Is that Charon the ferryman at the bottom, just right of center, wacking people with his oar? And Jesus, at the center near the top, with Mary under his raised right arm, is he a completion of the Belvedere Torso?

    
The entire Sistine Chapel (not my photo)
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See also:
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