Vatican Museum concluded

After shuffling out way out of the Sistine Chapel, we wandered another long hall back to the main body of the museum, this one filled with various religious architecture. Finally we found are way to the Pinacoteca, the Vatican art gallery. The rooms are ordered chronologically, and the works are almost strictly of a religious nature, whether they be grand paintings of biblical scenes or representations of  the various saints. The works range from the 12th to the 19th centuries and include several works by Raphael, the most impressive of which is The Transfiguration whose vivid colors shine in a dark room. Among the other authors to be found here are Giotto, Bellini, Caravaggio, Titian, Guido Reni, Bernini, and an unfinished St. Jerome by da Vinci.  Also of interest, though the name is less well known to me, is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, by Peter Wenzel, which shows a rather whimsical scene with flora and fauna from the world over.

The Transfiguration

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

From the Pinacoteca, we wound our way through the Pio-Clemento museum. Roman statues peered down at us from crimson niches, as we shuffled past, circling the roman mosaics set in the floor, cordoned off by velvet ropes, and finally into the octagonal courtyard, filled with still more roman sculptures.

After the courtyard we moved into the Egyptian Museum. This museum contains a decent collection of hieroglyph marked stelae, Egyptian statues,  a few mummies, and some bronze votives. Of these, the statues and busts were the most impressive, several good quality pieces as well as a few very interesting pieces that show the Romanization of Egyptian gods, such as the toga adorned Anubis. Of particular interest to me where the final rooms of the exhibit which were not Egyptian, but which contain tablets written in cuneiform, the oldest of all writing forms , and also Assyrian artwork.

Finally, were were done with the museum, and ready to head to the Vatican itself. So we exited by the famous double helix staircase, whose two spirals once allowed guests to both enter and exit this way, but now it is used only as an exit.

Vatican: Il Museo

After returning to Rome for the final time on our trip, we knew we had to get up pretty early to beat the lines to the Vatican Museum. By the time we arrived, there was already a significant line, and it took us some time after the museum opened to reach the doors. In the mean time, we were glad to have a bottle of water, and no small degree of patience. The wait was formed of a thick line of people who wound their way along the sidewalk around the outside of the walled Vatican City. Passing along the lines were vendors selling scarves and water, and even a few beggars. One particularly shaky elderly woman was so bent with osteoporosis that she walked completely bent over, pitching forward on her cane with every unsteady step. Her condition was thrown into doubt however, when she happened to turn her ragged shawl covered head and reveal a surprisingly young and healthy face.

Once at the gate, we purchased our tickets. The Vatican only accepts cash, despite theme park priced admission costs. Through the gate, We began our journey to the primary site. Down a gilded and painted hallway, we worked our way, shoulder to shoulder with a throng of people. Here and there, telescoping antennas, without there cars or radios, extended into the air, bearing scarves of every possible pattern and color, marking the pirates of these human seas: tour guides. Shouting above the din of shuffling feet and rustling clothes, they tried, seemingly in vain, to point out details in the artwork hanging here and there on the wall along the way, their languages nearly as varied as their scarves.

This hallway, filled to the absolute brim with people from the world over, was the Gallery of Maps. Every square inch of its surface decorated. All along its length were hung, not surprisingly, maps. Finally were poured out into the Raphael rooms. Here, you will find that many do not pause. Raphael seems like nothing, when there is Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel just ahead. But do not let your anxious interest hurry you here. There are four rooms painted by the artist and his school.

The first of these is the Room of Constantine, named for the first Christian Roman Emperor. While one wall is busy with scenes of war, the ceiling bears the simpler work of another author, Tommaso Laureti, and shows a statue of a Roman god, knocked from its pedestal and lying on the floor, replaced by a golden cross. The next room in the Room of Heliodorus, which depicts another scene of battle, as well as scenes with the namesake of the room, Saint Peter, Moses, Noah, and others. The Room of the Segnatura is a Hall of Fame of sorts. It is one of Raphael's most famous frescoes,

and certainly my favorite of the Raphael  rooms. The Disputation over the Most Holy Sacrament is a whose who of Christian figures, both from the Bible, and saints. On the wall opposite, School of Athens shows many great thinkers from Aristotle to Euclid, each with their own signs to help tell who they are, such as Ptolemy holding a globe. Among the other figures present on the other walls are popes and cardinals, with Dante and Virgil gazing down from the ceiling.






The fourth and final room is Room of the Fire in the Borgo, which depicts several historical events on its walls, including the namesake fire.

Finally, after somewhat more spacious time spent with Raphael, it is time to once again go shoulder to shoulder with the crowds to see the great Sistine Chapel. Here, no pictures are allowed. Here, talking is prohibited.

Here, it is hot, and crowded, the air pervaded by a general murmur from the people, occasionally overridden by a harsh sshhhh! from the security. People snap photos anyway. Protected by the masses. We did take one discreet, rather blurry picture, no flash. Above, is that classic scene, hand reaching for hand. But all around it, on every surface, as with all the other rooms so far, there too is work. But this room is impossibly large. This room is long and tall. The perspective is worthwhile, but without the ability to move about the room and examine it, it is not enough. If I were to visit again, I would wait for some weekday, some cold day, some rainy day. Some day where maybe I might have it more to myself.

To be continued Thursday.

Siena Duomo

The exterior of the Siena Duomo is a colorful collection of white, pink, and green marble, much like the Duomo in Florence, though this building is smaller. The facade is also heavily decorated with carved spires and arches, statues of man and beast, as well as being capped with a golden mosaic.

Upon entering through the wooden side doors, You eyes will be drawn briefly to the boldly stripped columns and vaulted ceiling, but if you visit during September, you eyes will mostly be inspecting the bared floor. Covered for most of the year in protection from trodding feet, the floor of the Sienna Duomo is covered with scenes done in marble inlay. It is difficult to believe that anyone once took the time to cut the various pieces of marble so finely that they fit together, puzzle like, on the floor to represent various biblical scenes. The works are fascinating in their level of detail, and contrasting colors.

Overhead, the vault looms, its height made higher by the optical illusion created by its painters, who covered the vault with rectangles which grow progressively smaller.

Also worth a visit is the attached Piccolomini Library. Notable for its frescoes and brilliant painted arching ceiling, it also displays a number of decorated choir books, and a roman statue of the Three Graces. The choir books bear words and notes shown large enough for the group to read together from a distance, and are heavily adorned not only with beautiful borders and neat calligraphy, but also with perfectly detailed palm sized ink drawings.

In fact, the entire church is wrought with so many different forms of art, all very heavily detailed and intriguing, making this one of Italy's many not to be missed attractions.

Firenze Fine

The Duomo of Florence, also known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria dei Fiori, dominates the center of it's Piazza half a kilometer north of the Arno River. This structure stands out for its size and colorful detail, its exterior a dazzling pattern of white, green, and pink marble. Among its most prominent features are its grand dome by Brunelleschi, its bell tower by Giotto, and the Baptistery, which bore the bronze caste doors known as "the Gates of Paradise" by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The doors currently in place are replicas, the originals undergoing restoration in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. The google maps street view provides an exceptional perspective on this church. In the early afternoon in mid September, we found the area surrounding the church to be pleasant and not too crowded. There was, however, an bit of a line to get inside, and since so much of the allure of this building is its exterior, we decided not to enter, but instead headed to one of the more peculiar museums in this city.

The Museo Di Storia Della Scienza houses a collection of scientific instruments and curiosities. The rooms contains ancient astrolabes and sundials, as well as levels and surveyor's instruments. The museum houses an early mechanical calculator, prisms, globes, microscopes, and an interesting collection of optical illusion toys. There are a variety of weather instruments, such as early thermometers and barometers. There is an entire room dedicated to clocks; early electrical machines and experimental contraptions make up another. Still other rooms stock devices used to demonstrate pneumatics, hydraulics, and other experiments or demonstrations of physics. Among the most disturbing collections are the surgery and obstetrics items, which display not only tools used to perform early medicine, which may include "skull and eye surgery; obstetrics and gynecology; lithotomy; amputation; removal and incision", but also the walls are lined with wax models on infants in the womb, many demonstrating all that can go wrong in childbirth with the clarity of a full color cutaway. The collection concludes with items related to pharmacy, chemistry, and measuring. But perhaps all of this, even as interesting as it was, would not have been enough to draw us to the museum. It was, in fact the rooms dedicated to astronomy that were of supreme interest.

There is a later room dedicated to more developed telescopes, but rooms IV and V hold the real treasures. These rooms house possessions and creations of Galileo. Among the collection of smaller items are the very lens through which he first saw the moons of Jupiter, and his very own middle finger. They also have the only two telescopes made by him still in existence today. It is accepted, though generally not well known, that Galileo did not in fact invent the telescope, but what he saw when he used them to look at the moon, the planets, and the sun, he used as evidence for the Copernican model of a sun centered universe.

Unsatisfied with merely the finger of the man, we headed over to the Basilica di Santa Croce, his final resting place, as well as that of several other world famous Italians. From the front, the Basilica's exterior matches that of the Duomo, but the sides are more plain. Within the walls of the church, despite the art and decorations, it is the many tombs, many laid into the very floor of the church, that attract attention. It is here that Florence built its empty tomb for Dante, who remains in Ravenna. Here also lies the body of Niccolò Machiavelli, author of the Prince and the Art of War. As I have said, here also lies Galileo, and finally Michelangelo Buonarroti, perhaps the most famous sculptor and painter in the world, has found his final rest here as well.

Statue at the Basilica

Niccolò Machiavelli

Dante's Memorial

Galileo

Michelangelo

A three Museum Morning

After an afternoon in Pisa, it was back to Firenze for still more Museums. It was another early morning line, this time to get into the Galleria dell Accademia. Practically the only thing on exhibit here is the ironically giant stature of David. Entering the main hall, lined on each side with the far less known, and not completed slaves, also by Michelangelo, my eyes were drawn immediately to the far end. There stands the iconic work completed five hundred years ago. The work does not disappoint, the details of muscle and vein on the legs and arms, the large curled fingers of his lowered hand, all of it striking and fine. The statue itself is surrounded by a protective plexi-glass fence, this provided after the statue was attack and its toes damaged by a man with a hammer, a scenario not unlike that which happened to another work of Michelangelo, the Pieta, at the Vatican. The rest of the museum comprises of paintings, a plaster cast of the Rape of the Sabine Women original we had already seen outside the Uffizi, and one impressive room full of plaster casts of various sculptures. The casts are crammed into every niche, and fill the center of the room, leaving only a narrow route for tourists to explore. Also during out visit, there was on exhibit Marvels of sound Musical Instruments of the Italian Baroque (Meraviglie sonore Strumenti musicali del Barocco Italiano) which contained, among other interesting, highly ornamented pieces, a violin by Stradivari, a real surprise.

From the Galleria, it was on to the Museo Archeologico. This museum houses older works of art, including several Etruscan pieces. One of the most interesting of these is the empty eyed bronze Chimera. The museum as a whole has a somewhat abandoned feel. We saw no one else visiting while we were there, there were some construction areas seemingly abandoned partway through, and the room with the mummies didn't even have the lights on.

Chimera

Hittite Chariot

Egyptian Items

Bes

After that, we visited another of Firenze's well known museums, the Bargello. Here on display are several sculptures by Michelangelo. At the top of the stairs in the courtyard rest a collection of bronze birds by Giambologna, the most interesting to me being that of a turkey, done in 1567, when the birds odd appearance was still relatively novel.

In a nearby room, Donatello gets his due, where several of his works are on display. Of the many pieces, the bronze David was by far the most interesting, because not only is it large and well made, but at the time of our visit, it was under restoration. For many pieces, restoration means being removed from exhibit and being replaced by a cardboard cut-out if it's recognizable enough, or merely a piece of paper printed with words that proclaim "Under Restoration" of something like. Donatello's David, however, underwent its restoration under the full view of visitors, in the very room where it usually resides. Laying upon his operating table, surrounded by a barrier that houses computers and technicians alike, David did not look entirely comfortable. Perhaps because we were able to better peer into his face, or examine the top of his head, but I suspect it was more to do with our ability to see into his very soul, where his soles ought to have been. For, as I assume is the case with all large bronzes, David is hollow, and he hasn't got a bottom any more than a vase has got a top.

Museum of a Genius in Vinci, and The Leaning Tower

After spending the first part of the day at the Uffizi, we took a drive to a small town called Vinci. While there are multiple museums in the region dedicated to Leonardo, we felt it was more apt to visit one in the town which gave him his name. Here, in miniature, are reproductions of dozens of contraptions invented by the late thinker. From the notes of Leonardo come cranes and winches, clock mechanisms, flying machines, cannon, gun, and tank. There are screw presses and kilns, bearings, a level. There were simple devices to measure humidity and wind speed, as well as complicated mechanically powered transportation devices, like paddle boats, bicycles, and spring driven cars. Designs for rack and pinion steering, and even boat shoes and a diving suit.

In short, the museum houses models for contraptions of every sort which, while many may have missed the mark, embody the kinds of ideas, the tinkering sort of love for things mechanical, which would propel humanity into the modern era and age of industrialization several hundred years hence. He was also something of a painter, so they say.
We then ventured still further west across the isthmus to another well known town called Pisa. Here a tower stands, or rather peeks from behind the buildings of the baptistery and cathedral of the Field of Miracles. The biggest mistake in its construction, the foundation poorly laid, has become it's greatest success, making this cathedral one of the biggest draws for tourism in Italy, of all the lovely cathedrals found here. Today, the tower's leaning has been corrected somewhat and stabilized, and the city takes full advantage of its popularity.

An arched entryway leads into the high walled courtyard of this miracle field. Just outside this entrance we were very much surprised to find a troupe of Native Americans dressed in their best feather headdresses and leather tunics, playing pipe and drum for the tourist crowds. Inside the courtyard, the right hand side was cast in deep shade, and lined with stalls selling scarves, postcards, magnets, little statues of the building that lay just a little distance away. We located the office to buy tickets for the tower, a timed entrance, prices set to somewhat reduce the crowds. In the mean time, we explored the green grass lawns where, as in any sun drenched park in Italy, young couples lay in the grass. We visited the cathedral, squinting at the bright pure white exterior of all 3 buildings in the afternoon light.

The tower itself is set into a bit of a pit, not having merely leaned to one side, but also having settle all together, so that you must descend a few stairs to the doorway, before you can climb up. Climbing the 294 steps to the top is not just a little like walking on sliding belts in a carnival fun house. because the building leans so, as you circle round and round up the tower, you lean first to this side, then that. Without the visual cues of the outside, and due probably in part to our general assumption that steps are level, it is difficult to recognize the shift until you find yourself almost falling upon the opposite wall, and so round and round, back and forth, like so many upside down pendulums we went. The stumbling steps of countless tourists have worn into the marble steps smooth dimples. With a brief stop about midway up to explore the outside of the tower, and presumably to let the previous group head back down, we found ourselves at the heady slopping height of the tower.

Below, the afternoon crowds throng along the little shops, the locals doze, and beyond the reach of my ear through so much interfering sound, a flute and drums play music not at all native to this land, in costumes wildly out of place. And in all honesty, I do not feel like a tourist, sheepishly taking in the typical sites. I feel like an audience member at a comedy play. Let in on the farce, this fun house of marble 700 years in the making, waiting patiently for me and others like me, with the proper sense of humor, to come and see the show.

Firenze: Piazza della singoria and the Uffizi

Florence, known to Italians by the more spirited name Firenze, was the beating heart of the Italian Renaissance, and is today the home of countless museums and masterpieces. But the museums do bring the crowds that come to see them, particularly the top most two, the Uffizi, and the Galleria dell Academia. The Galleria is the home of David, the Uffizi houses works by not only da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, but also Titian, Caravaggio, Botticelli, and Rembrandt, amongst others. The key to seeing these works without a long wait is to arrive at the museums in the morning, to arrive before the museums open, before tour groups or many other tourists are up and about.

So we found ourselves on our first morning in a nearly vacant Piazza della Signoria, where the Uffizi is located. The Piazza itself is notable for it's collection of statues, as the site of the historical Bonfire of the Vanities, and the site of Palazzo Vecchio. Outside the Palazzo stands a replica of Michelangelo's David. Around the corner of the Palace is the Fountain of Neptune, Constructed in the 1500's, the crowning marble statue is not the original, housed in a museum. The rest of the fountain, in bronze and marble is mostly original, though it has been several times restored. But most of the statues are housed under the Loggia della Signoria. Here several dynamic sculptures, stood in the cool blue shadows of early morning. Among the statures are a bronze Perseus by Cellini, a piece by Giambologna called Hercules beating the Centaur, as well as the Rape of Polyxena, and several Roman sculptures. However, by far my favorite piece is the twisted spire of bodies of the Rape of the Sabine Women also by Giambologna.

Realizing a bit of a line was forming at the soon to open museum, we cut our visit to the outdoor statues short. This gallery brims with at least a few paintings from each of many masters of the paintbrush. Many of the works can be viewed at the Virtual Uffizi. Easily the single most famous piece here, despite all the well known artists is that of the Birth of Venus, by Botticelli. The Nearly 50 rooms of work on display take 3 to 4 hours to browse over everything, or you can skim through the works by the more famous authors more quickly. Thankfully, because the museum lets people in in groups, the rooms are not as crowded as you might think, and the works are generally easy to see. Pictures are not allowed, but photographs of most of the works can be found at the above link.

Palazzo Vecchio

David Replica

Neptune Fountain

Bronze Satyr on Neptune Fountain sheilds his face from the sun

Perseus

Hercules beating the Centaur

Rape of Polyxena

Rape of the Sabine Women

The Uffizi Line