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.