Popping In To See The Pope

ROME - VISITING THE VATICAN

Because we were only 2 hours to Rome - a short drive to Spoleto, and then a 75 minute train ride to Rome, we decided that we wanted to visit the Vatican. Gwenne, my sister and Katherine's mother, came to visit us. She expressed a desire to visit the Vatican. We organized a private tour guide to take us through the Vatican Museum, St Peter's Church, and the Sistine Chapel. We also arranged for seats for the Papal audience which is held every Wednesday morning at 10:30. We found a wonderful hotel in Vatican City, which was directly across from St Peter's. We left Preci on a Tuesday morning, arrived in Rome for lunch, and then met our private guide at 1:30 to guide us through the masses of people waiting to enter the Vatican museum, St Peter's and the Sistine Chapel. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it was to have our own private guide to lead us through the hoards of people, and to point out the most important pieces in this complex.

The tour started as we entered Bernini's St. Peter's Square. The huge piazza is an ellipse partly enclosed by a majestic Doric-pillared colonnade. Atop it stands 140 saints. St Peter and Paul flank the Basilica of St Peter carrying the keys to the kingdom.

St Peter's Basilica. In ancient times, the Circus of Nero, where St Peter is said to have been crucified upside down, was in this location. St Peter was buried here in 64AD and in 324 Constantine commissioned a basilica to be built over Peter's tomb. The present basilica, completed in the 1500s and 1600s, is predominantly High Renaissance and baroque. The inside is overwhelming. It is the largest Church in the world. Bramante, Raphael,Michelangelo, and Maderno have adorned the inside. One of the greatest treasures is Michelangelo's exquisite Pieta. He was 20 when he carved it, and it is the only piece that he signed. Canova's neoclassical sculpture of Pope Clement XIII. The 13th century bronze of St Peter, created by Arnolfo di Cambio is exquisite. Bernini has created a twisty-columned baldacchino (1524) over the altar of St Peter.

 

Vatican Museums

One of the world's greatest art collections. This is housed in a labyrinthine series of lavishly adorned palaces, apartments, and galleries all leading to the Sistine Chapel. They occupy part of the papal palaces built from the 1200's on. From the former papal private apartments, the museums were created. Borgia apartments,collection of Egyptian art, the Pinacoteca , and the Gregorian museum are all filled with treasures too numerous to mention. There is one salon dedicated to Raphael paintings. The Apollo Belvedere has become the symbol of classic male beauty,rivaling Michelangelo's David. Raphael's most important is called the "School of Athens", depicting all of the great philosophers and artists of his time. In the corner is a self portrait of the artist.

 

Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor, not a painter, and certainly not a fresco painter. Pope Julius II ordered him to stop work on his tomb, and ordered him to paint the ceiling frescos. He was 30 at the time. He labored for 4 years 1508 - 1512 and permanently damaged his eyesight. Julius kept taunting him to finish this work. It's ironic that a project undertaken against his will would be his most enduring legend. Glorifying the human body as only a sculpture could, his representation of Genesis is outstanding. The most notable panels detailed the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and the creation of man. He painted all of the figures naked. He was taunted by Monsignor Biagio da Cesna who protested to the pope about the "shameless nudes". Michelangelo painted the prudish monsignor with the ears of a jackass in hell. When he complained to the pope, Paul III told him that he had no jurisdiction in hell. The chapel was totally cleaned in the 1990's . The restoration took 10 years. There was a lot of criticism surrounding the restoration. Purists argue that many of the restored figures seem flat compared with Michelangelo's masterpiece. Other's hail it as saving the Chapel from total ruin.

The Papal Audience

The attendance is 10,000 people in St. Peter's Square. The Pope circles the audience at 10:30 in an open seated Range Rover. He then appears on stage and greets all in Italian. There are 6 cardinals and archbishops representing these different languages - French, German, English,Polish,Portuguese and Spanish. The Pope then acknowledges each of these groups and the special "Pilgrims" in each group, in all seven languages. At the end, there is a special Papal Blessing.