Move to the rear by gilabrand
What hasn?t been said about the Sistine Chapel? Mountains of words have been written about this cavernous room with Michelangelo?s frescoes covering every inch of the ceiling. Every scene he painted from the Book of Genesis (from 1508 to 1512), every detail of his vision of the Last Judgment, has been scrutinized under a microscope. The guidebooks are overflowing with analysis of the ceiling panels, the walls, the lunettes and the altar wall. Since the cleaning work that began in the 1980s, art historians have devoted endless discussion to whether the bright new color scheme has restored the paintings to their former glory or ruined them. As someone who visited in the early 1970s, and again in 2009, I personally couldn?t see a difference, but who am I to say. Anyway, back then, on my honeymoon, maybe I wasn?t paying so much attention. So here is a tip that will allow you to get a better view of these glorious paintings, which invariably leave visitors with a crick in their neck: When you enter the room, don?t do what everybody else does, which is stand still in your tracks and stare up in amazement. Move to the rear! What I realized, as my feet (and neck) began to ache and I tried to find a place to sit on the benches that line the room, is that people tend to congregate in the first part of the hall. But if you keep going, through the carved partition that divides the room, not only are you getting away from the crowds, but you get a much better view (the Last Judgment is on the wall opposite you). You won?t even have to squeeze in to find a spot on the bench.
