Vatican Museum

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Originally uploaded by stevi.sayler

Well as you know from my previous posts, I went to Rome in the last few days and spent all my time either in galleries or seeing amazing sights. One of the places that I went that I was most excited about was the Vatican Museum and all the sights in the Vatican City area. We set out early in the morning so that we could have as much time in the gallery as possible, and maybe try to beat the line and get through before it was a million degrees out. We were actually able to get our entire group out of the hotel, get there, and make in through the whole line in very good time, so before I knew it I was already in the gallery and prepared for a day packed full of art! I was immediately met with hieroglyphics and a real, perfectly preserved mummy! Way to start off the day! As you worked through the gallery it jumps around to various time periods, art styles, mediums and artists so you are almost always surprised by what you are met with in the very next room. This inconsistency helped to keep you on your toes and helps to keep you from zoning out as you moved from room to room.
The gallery was absolutely huge; I could not believe the size of it! It was originally built as a palace for the popes of the renaissance time, many additions have been made since it was originally built, it was first many buildings that were later connected and turned into a gallery for the many pieces of art that the various popes had collected over centuries.
They had work from every famous artist that you could imagine, I saw works of art that I never thought I would ever be able to see outside of an art text book or in my art history classes. Almost like a kid in a candy store I ran around with my camera snapping shot after shot of the various famous works of art, along with the many others that I had never heard of but they still amazed me nonetheless.
Of all the things in the gallery the one thing that I was very disappointed with was just the atmosphere of the space itself, it was packed full of people who were all snapping there camera, yelling to their friends, and herding though in large obnoxious tour groups. I felt that had it been quieter and less busy my experience would have been even more amazing! It was especially apparent when I was in the Sistine chapel, upon walking in you are immediately bombarded with people, flashes and yelling. Because the Sistine chapel is so well known it is especially popular and people spend much more time packed into this little room looking up and trying to sneak pictures.
Quick side note on cameras and such, with the help of a few I have finally figured out why exactly cameras are banned from a lot of these attractions. First of all the flash of a camera can deteriorate the fragile material of these pieces of art that they try so very hard to preserve. I knew that from the beginning, but the issue I had with it, is why then can you not take a picture of the David… he is made of marble, flash will not hurt that. Apparently they use to allow cameras in the area that they had the David, and it was a mess I guess, people were not looking at the sculpture, and they were instead more concerned with taking pictures of themselves posing with it. I’d image it would be rather difficult to have a nice unobstructed view if there are twelve people in front of you posing and pushing for a close up picture.
OK back to the Sistine Chapel, they did not allow flash or pictures in general, so people who really wanted pictures had to sneak them from inside their bag or something of that sort. Many were not being so discreet about taking these pictures, about every few minutes you would see a flash and this would be immediately followed by the yell of a guard, “No Photo!” I was very excited about chapel and I could not wait to see it, but when I walked into the room I was instantly filled with disappointment, this was not the amazing colorful room that I had seen in textbooks.
Leaving that I was frustrated with the mass of people and very disappointed with the chapel’s failure to meet all my expectations. I filed through the rest of the gallery and made my way to St. Peters Basilica expecting it to be just as full of people and frustrating as the rest. Upon walking into the basilica I stopped in awe, this was far better, bigger and more amazing than any picture I had ever seen of it. There we just as many people as I expected but since it was so huge, they were spread out and it was quite easy to maneuver around people or snap a picture that is not blocked by a huge crowd of people.
The architecture was absolutely amazing! I could not believe that this was built without modern day construction equipment. The part of the architecture that appealed most to me was the complex and impressive arches that completely lined the ceiling. We have seen that same style of arch systems all over Italy in all the different chapels and basilicas, but these stood out so much more to me. The style of arches that I’m speaking of is where six smaller arches intersect in the center to create a structure that is as strong as possible. I loved this! The basilica was one of my favorite places that I have gone to this entire time, it was just so huge and amazing! Still right now thinkning about it I cant get over the size and how it had so much going on decoration-wise but at the same time it was not cluttered or too much to look at. It was perfect!