The Vatican Museums ( Musei Vaticani) , located in the Vatican City, are one of the must-see attractions on a visit to Rome. Here you will find priceless works of art, from Egyptian and Roman antiquities to paintings by the most important artists of the Renaissance.
A visit to the Vatican Museums also includes the Sistine Chapel, where you can see the most famous frescoes by Michelangelo.
The best attractions in the Vatican Museums
The Sistine Chapel. Renowned for its inspiring frescoed ceiling by Michelangelo between 1505 and 1512, the Sistine Chapel is also the meeting place of the Sacred College of Cardinals when they meet to elect a new Pope. Representations of “The Last Judgment”, “The Creation of Adam” and “The Fall of Man” and the “Expulsion from Paradise” are among Michelangelo’s masterpieces here, although he was always considered more a sculptor than a painter . The chapel contains what many consider the greatest achievements of the Renaissance.
Tip: Go to the side of the chapel and wait for a place to open on one of the benches that line the wall. You can sit back and admire the ceiling without straining your neck or getting dizzy.
Raphael’s rooms. Among the artistic treasures of the Vatican Museums, the four opulent suites that make up the Raphael Rooms are of second importance only to the Sistine Chapel. Carefully created by the artist Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) and his students between 1508 and 1524, these galleries, located on the second floor of the Pontifical Palace, contain huge frescoes, mainly including “The School of Athens”, representing the great philosophers. of the classical world. Raphael snuck into a self-portrait, disguised as the Greek painter Apelles de Kos.
The gallery of maps. One of the most popular exhibits in Museums, the Gallery of Maps ( Galleria delle Carte Geografiche ) measures 394 feet and is plastered end-to-end with more than 40 full-size geographic paintings of the 16th century Dominican monk and cosmographer, Ignazio Danti. . Museum visitors pass the gallery on their way to the Sistine Chapel.
The Chiaramonti museum. Housed in a long loggia (hall) lined by thousands of ancient marble busts, idealistic and funerary sculptures, as well as a rare 1st-century statue of Augustus, the Chiaramonti Museum is named after Pope Pius VII Chiaramonti (1800-1823).
Pio-Clementino Museum. Housed in the small Belvedere Palace of Innocent VIII (1484-1492), the marble rooms of the Museo Pio-Clementino display one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of classical Greek and Roman statues. Some examples are the Roman marble copy of Apollo, originally cast in bronze in the 4th century BC. C., and a pontifical collection of sculptures housed in the crimson colored statue of Cortile delle (today called the octagonal court).
The Gregorian Etruscan museum. Commissioned by Pope Gregory XVI in the mid-19th century, the Gregorian Etruscan Museum has eight galleries containing a fascinating selection of artifacts related to the mysterious Etruscan civilization, which preceded Rome by at least hundreds of years. The Etruscans left behind rich funerary objects, such as bronze, glass, ivory, and ceramics found in ancient Lazio and in cities in central Italy.
The Egyptian Gregorian museums. Founded in 1839, exhibits in the Gregorian Egiziano Museum demonstrate the importance and influence of Pharaonic culture in Roman history. See ancient mummies, delicate papyri, and captivating pieces from the Near East, many of which were added to the museum’s collections in the 1970s.
The tapestry gallery. At around 246 feet long, the Gallery of Tapestries ( Galleria degli Arazzi ) is slightly smaller than its map counterpart. With beautiful vaulted ceilings decorated in a charming trompe l’oeil , the textiles were woven in Rome by Barberini’s workshop during the reign of Pope Urban VIII. Pay attention to “The Resurrection,” which is a wonderful example of a technique called “moving perspective.” Look into the eyes of Jesus as he passes by and you will notice that they seem to follow him as he passes.
The Borgia apartment. Another exhibit that is really worth seeing is the Borgia Apartment. Here Pinturicchio (formal name, Bernardino di Betto) worked for almost three years (1492-1495) to refresh the private residence of the famous Borgia pope, Alexander VI. During the cleaning of one of his frescoes, “The Resurrection,” a scene believed to be the oldest known European painting of Native Americans was revealed: the fresco was completed only two years after Christopher Columbus returned from his travels. to the New World.
The spiral staircase. It is difficult to visit the Vatican Museums without taking a photo of the elegant spiral staircase that leads down from the museums, designed by Giuseppe Momo. Completed in 1932, the double helix flight of stairs allows customers to simultaneously walk up and down each other.
History of the Vatican museums
The Vatican Museums collection “officially” began in 1506, when Pope Julius II purchased the “Laocoön”, an ancient Greek sculpture depicting a Trojan priest and his children being strangled by sea snakes, his punishment for trying to warn Troy on the Trojan Horse. The sculpture was publicly exhibited and the tradition of sharing Papal art treasures with the public was born. Over the years, the Vatican’s collections grew to more than 70,000 works of art, less than half of which are displayed in the more than 1,400 galleries, halls and chapels of museums.
It is one of the oldest and most visited museums in the world and is also considered the largest museum in the world.
Visitor information of the Vatican Museums
Location: Viale Vaticano, 00165 Rome
Hours: Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Sundays, January 1, January 6, February 11, March 19, Easter Sunday and Monday, May 1, June 29, August 14, 15 August, November 1, December 8, December 25, December 26.
From mid-April to the end of October, the Vatican Museums are also open on Friday nights.
Free entry: the Vatican Museums are open for free on the last Sunday of each month. Exceptions include Easter Sunday, as well as June 29, December 25, or December 26 if they fall on a Sunday. Free entry to the Vatican Museums is also available on September 27 (World Tourism Day). While free entry to the Vatican Museums may be easy on your budget, prepare for long admission lines and crowds around all the famous works of art.
Visiting Tip: Avoid the (very) long entry line by purchasing your ticket in advance, within 60 days of your visit. You can buy tickets on the Vatican Museums website.
Admission: € 17 if purchased on site; € 21 if previously purchased online (highly recommended). Check the current prices on the website above.
The entrance is included in the combination of the Vatican Rome Card.
Guided visits
With its crowds, miles of galleries, and mind-blowing volume of artwork, there’s no rush to visit the Vatican Museums. Even the quickest visit requires a minimum of 2-3 hours, and that’s still not enough to do these incredible collections justice.
If you have a limited amount of time to spend in museums or want to make the most of your visit, a guided tour is a great option. Guided tours can be booked through the Vatican Museums website, and some tours allow you to see parts of Vatican City that are generally not open to tourists. Generally speaking, the more you are willing to pay for your tour, the more privacy and exclusivity you get.
Several private tour companies are licensed to offer small-group tours within museums, which may include before or after hours access, skip-the-line options, and behind-the-scenes access. Some respected tour operators include The Roman Guy, Context Travel, Select Italy, and Italy With Us, all of which offer expert guides and exclusive access. For a truly special experience, consider a tour before or after hours so you can see the Sistine Chapel without the crowds – a truly magnificent encounter.
Other things to see in Vatican City
The Vatican Gardens. The Vatican Gardens, the most exclusive backyard in the city, can only be visited by booking a separate guided tour, either through the Vatican Museums website or with a private tour operator. It may take some additional planning, but it’s worth the effort, as access to the gardens is quite limited, leaving lucky visitors uncrowded to wander the 57 acres of gardens in relative seclusion. Not only that, the well-kept gardens have the best views of St. Peter’s dome in all of Rome.
Vatican Post Office. Like the Vatican Gardens, the Vatican Post Office is not officially part of the Museums, however, if you have the opportunity, we strongly recommend that you stop by with a postal letter. Given the unique status of Vatican City as its own little country, it publishes more post office than any other post office in the world. Opened in 1929, it has its own stamps, along with a reputation for being so trustworthy that many Romans go to great lengths to use it as well.
Of course, most visitors to the Vatican Museums combine it with a same day visit to St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the most important churches in all of Christendom. Learn more about visiting St. Peter’s with this visitor guide.
