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 500 m line at Vatican museum. by breughel
A VT friend asked me why after visiting and commenting six Roman museums I kept silent about the Vatican museum (except showing the 2008 opening hours)?
Well, my wife and I visited this museum around 1995. We waited 45 minutes in the rain, were very happy to get inside where it was dry but when we came out both of us felt somewhat disappointed. We had expected more!
The crowd in the Sistine chapel had spoiled our pleasure and what we saw in the other parts was not extraordinary; we had seen similar works of art elsewhere under better conditions.
Let me give you some examples about parts of the Vatican museum of which similar art works can be seen elsewhere without losing your time in long lines:
1° Greek and Roman antiquities. You can see works of art as good in quality at the Museo Capitolino and Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps (without lines).
2° Pinacotheca. Religious subjects by great Italian painters are very common in Italy. No need to line up during two hours to see some.
3° Stanze (rooms) of Raphael. Yes this are great works of art. Now if your interest for frescoes is a general one, not specific to Raphael, there are many other frescoes to be seen in Rome. If you came for the frescoes of Raphael you have to line up.
The "masterpiece", "chef-d'oeuvre", "capolavoro" of the Vatican is the Sistine Chapel for which there is no substitute. Therefore, at least once in our life, we line up in the rain or in the sun for 1 - 2 hours or pay a lot of money for a group visit.
I would certainly visit again the chapel if some Monsignor would take me here on a private visit. As the probability for such favour is zero I read a good illustrated guide on the frescoes of Michelangelo. Something I would recommend to all visitors because the frescoes are at 20 m height, so that the details are not much visible.
If it is your first visit to Rome, your only visit, you can not escape the lines. My photo shows the 500 m line starting at the Piazza del Risorgimento.
Many good tips (Lacristina, Icunme, Goodfish a.o.) have been given here how to reduce somewhat the waiting.
Bon courage.
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 Museo Vaticano - opening
hours in 2009 by breughel
In 2008 the opening hours were extended from 08.30 to 18.00 h but in 2009 the opening starts only at 9.00 h.
Last entrances at 16.00 and closure at 18.00 h.
On Sundays with free entrance, open from 09.00 h to 14.00 h, last entrances 12.30 h.
Closed dates:
Sundays, except for the last Sunday of each month, unless it falls at Easter, on June 29 (St. Peter and Paul), or on December 25 and 26 (Christmas Holiday)
Other holidays 2009:
January 1, 6
February 11
March 19
April 12, 13 (Easter - Easter Monday)
May 1, 21 (Ascension Thursday)
June 11 (Corpus Christi Day), 29
August 15
December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception), 25, 26.
Entrance tickets to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel :
The admission ticket to the Vatican Museums is valid for visiting the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel only on the date of purchase. It is also valid for entrance to the Vatican Historical Museum and Noble Apartment of the Lateran Apostolic Palace (near the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome) during regular opening hours if used within the five consecutive days from the date of purchase (included).
Tickets are not refundable.
Regular 14,00 €
Reduced 8,00 €
Special 4,00 €
NEW: NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM. Every Friday in September and October it is possible to visit the museum in the evening from 19 h till 23 h (last entrance at 21.30 h).
Booking online is mandatory. The price of the entrance ticket is unvaried (Full Ticket € 14,00; Reduced Ticket € 8,00; Reservation fee € 4,00). For details see the official site of the Vatican http://mv.vatican.va
Website: mv.vatican.va
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 Vatican Library - manuscripts
and rare biographies by icunme
You can only hope to have enough time to see all the Museum sections.
You will see people rushing forward to find the Sistine - best not to get caught up in that pace unless you are really pressed for time.
You will miss much along the way - the Sistine will be there (unless, of course, you enter close to closing time - then, it may be there - without you!)
There are areas where it is difficult to backtrack - some very narrow passageways leading to the next section - expansive rooms and then, courtyards which are a welcome respite if it happens to be crowded inside.
Museums and Collections overview:
Gregorian Egyptian Museum (look for the room containing the mummy)
Near Eastern Antiquities
Alexandria and Palmyra
Antiquities from Palestine
Room of the Assyrian relief sculptures
Gregorian Etruscan Museum
Antiquarium romanum
Collection of vases
Classical Antiquities (Greek and Roman)
Pio Christian Museum (with the Christian and Hebrew Lapidary)
Pinacoteca (picture gallery)
Tapestries
Ceramics (18th-19th century)
Miniature mosaics
Collection of Modern Religious Art
Missionary-Ethnological Museum
Museo Sacro (formerly part of the Vatican Library)
Gregorian Profane Museum
Vatican Historical Museum
Vatican Palaces:
Belvedere Palace
Upper Galleries (Gallery of the Candelabra; of Tapestries and of Maps)
Apartment of St. Pius V
Sala delle Dame
Room of the Immaculate Conception
Raphael Stanze della Segnatura (considered Raphael's most aesthetically perfect work)
(The entire floor here is Raphael so don't look for just one room as I did!)
Room of the Chiaroscuri
Chapel of Nicholas V
Chapel of Urban VIII
Sistine Chapel
Borgia Apartment - 5 rooms: Sibyls - Creed - Liberal Arts - Saints - Mysteries - Pontiffs
Salone Sistino
Room of the Aldobrandini Wedding
Lower Galleries (Urban VIII, Alexandrine, Clementine)
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Directions: Vatican Directions: Vatican
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 Vatican Museum on Sunday
Morning by Lacristina
It sounds tempting, doesn't it? The last Sunday of the month, the Vatican Museums are open - and free! Saves you 14 euros per person; if you have a large group, it can add up. Well, that's exactly what all other budget-minded tourists and locals are thinking, too.
Click on the photo and see what awaits you! My traveling companion had no other time but Sunday morning available to her. This is the Gallery of Maps around 11 a.m. on a Sunday, on the way to the Sistine Chapel. It is a RIVER of people. . . .no, a TORRENT of people headed to the Sistine Chapel. Occasionally you can work your way to an eddy on the edge so that you could actually stop and look at something, but it isn't easy. (The Egyptian Museum and Pio Clemente sculpture museum were a bit less crowded; the Etruscan Museum was virtually deserted.)
If you're still determined to go, here's my suggestion.
The Museums open at 8:45. Get in line by 7:30. No, I'm not kidding. I thought 8 a.m. would be early enough, but luckily Rome VT friend Abarbieri suggested earlier, and he was right. At 8, the line was huge, we couldn't see the end of it. At 7:30, we were only about 75 meters from the entrance. We actually got in around 9 and took two hours to see the other museums before I took the photo. Leave a Comment
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We had breakfast at a café before heading to Vatican City and the Vatican Museums. The line to get in the museums was pretty short and after going through security (now expected at museums, churches, etc.) we picked up our audio guide. We like these better than guided tours because we can go at our own pace. On that day there were about 20 sections of the museum that were open to explore.
You can become a little dizzy looking at all those paintings, sculptures, etc., but you can always find something interesting. I loved the Egyptian room with the mummies, and the huge Map Room with an amazingly beautiful ceiling.
Of course the star of the museum is Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel). It took him four years to paint the ceiling – segments from the Bible- the most famous portion (and my favorite) being the “Creation”. Bring binoculars to examine the ceiling.
Be respectful of the signs - if it says NO FLASH, make sure you know how to turn yours off. If it says NO PHOTOS, DON'T take photos.
There's a nice little cafe right across from the entrance/exit of the museum. They serve really good pizza and cappuccino and are not as expensive as you would think.
Souvenirs are sold all around the museums and St. Peter's so you'll have plenty of opportunities to shop around.
Tickets are availble online and since this is one of Rome's most popular attractions, I'd suggest buying your tickets online. Proper attire is required for entrance to the Museums.
Check the calendar on the website to see what days the Museum and Sistine Chapel are closed. Entrance is free the last Sunday of each month, which means it will be very crowded.
Otherwise entrance is Euro 14,00.
Hours are 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Last entry is at 4:00 p.m.
All visitor information is correct as of this writing. Leave a Comment
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 by icunme
Three years ago during construction of a parking lot, a new necropolis was discovered. The Vatican announced its opening to visitors in October, 2006. Visitors will be able to descend into an ancient world of the dead that was a burial place for the rich and not-so-affluent during Roman imperial rule. One archaeologist noted that sculptures, engravings and other objects found entombed with the dead made the find a "little Pompeii" of cemeteries.
The burial sites, ranging from simple terra-cotta funerary urns with ashes still inside to ornately sculptured sarcophagi, date from between the era of Augustus (23 B.C. to 14 A.D.) to that of Constantine in the first part of the 4th century.
From specially constructed walkways, visitors can look down on some skeletons, including that of an infant buried by loved ones who left a hen's egg beside the body. The egg, whose smashed shell was reconstructed by archaeologists, might have symbolized hopes for a rebirth, officials at a Vatican Museums news conference said Monday.
The remains of the child, whose gender was not determined, were discovered during the construction of the walkways, after the main excavation had finished, said Daniele Battistoni, a Vatican archaeologist.
Buried there were upper-class Romans as well as simple artisans, with symbols of their trade, offering what archaeologists called rare insights into middle- and lower-middle-class life.
"We found a little Pompeii of funeral" life, said Giandomenico Spinola, a head of the Museums' classical antiquities department.
"We have had the mausoleums of Hadrian and Augustus," Spinola said, referring to majestic monuments along the Tiber in Rome, "but we were short on these middle- and lower-class" burial places.
The burial sites help "document the middle class, which usually escapes us," said Paolo Liverani, an archaeologist and former Museums official who worked as a consultant on the site. "You don't construct history with only generals and kings." Directions: VISITS TO THE VATICAN NECROPOLIS: Enquiries: Excavations Office, by e-Mail (scavi@fsp.va) or by fax +39 06 69873017Other Contact: e-Mail: scavi@fsp.va
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 by ruki
The architectural plans were made by Baccio Pontelli and the construction work was supervised by Giovannino de' Dolci. The first Mass in the Sistine Chapel was celebrated on August 9, 1483.
The wall paintings were executed by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, Luca Signorelli and their respective workshops, which included Pinturicchio, Piero di Cosimo and Bartolomeo della Gatta.
Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned by Pope Julius II della Rovere in 1508 to repaint the ceiling; the work was completed between 1508 and 1512. He painted the Last Judgement over the altar, between 1535 and 1541, being commissioned by Pope Paul III Farnese. Leave a Comment
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 lined up all the way to St.
Peters square by monorailgold
If you don't want to take a tour you can also pre-purchase museum entrance tickets at vatican.va. It costs 14 euros and allows you to bypass the line. You can pick your date and time on the website depending on what is available. If you don't want to pre-purchase tickets but don't want to wait in the line, just show up after noon. The line is very short or non-existent after lunch.
The museum also has a restaurant, a currency exchange office, a post office, a first aide office and a cloakroom. You can reserve an audio guide for 7 euros in Italian, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. These audio guides are MP3 players with a headset. If you need a wheelchair they are available at the "special permits" window or can be reserved in advance by faxing 06.6988.1573. The admission fee for the museum is 14.00 euros. The museum is closed Sundays, except for the last sunday of the month when it is free and verrrrrry crowded. It opens at 9:00 and closes at 6:00 except on free Sundays when it closes at 2:00. Leave a Comment Address: Vatican city/ St. Peters
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 Sistine Chapel by deecat
I suggest that all of these be on your agenda for a visit. But, I strongly recommend the Sistine Chapel.
Go early because you will, no doubt, have to stand in line. The last person to enter is at 1:00 PM. So, it's better to see it first and then see the Cathedral.
Michelangelo did the ceiling for Pope Julius II, and it shows the Creation of the World and The Fall of Man. It was restored in the 1980s. I had a sore neck from looking up at it. Some people bring mirrors to make it easier!
23 years later, Michelangelo painted the Last Judgementon the wall above the main altar. Some previous work had to be destroyed as well as a couple of windows to make the wall ready for the painting.
It took Michelangelo seven years to complete this work. The Last Judgment is, I feel, more powerful. It shows the souls of the dead rising up to face the wrath of God. The Pope wanted it to serve as a warning to Catholics (during the time of the Reformation.)
It also shows the "damned" who are hurled to the demons in hell. Charon who is the boatman who rows the people to the underworld in Roman Mythology is shown tossing people into the River Styx. It's interesting how these myths are mixed into scenes from the Bible!
I can tell you this, when you walk out of the Sistine Chapel, you know for certain that Michelangelo was a genius. Leave a Comment Directions: Located in the Papal Palace next to the St. Peter's Cathedral.
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A visit to St Peter's Basilica or the Vatican Museums (which are 1 kilometer apart) means standing in a long line (probably because of the security check at the entrance) so it is best to visit each place in separate days if you can. But if you really want to visit The Vatican in one go, it is best that you visit the museums first before it gets too crowded and then the basilica later.
On visiting the Vatican museums, go there if you can as early as 8 or 8:15 AM. The museum opens at 8:45 but even before that, other visitors will be waiting by then. Arriving a little later than 8:45 will have you waiting for almost an hour (as in our case) so you can imagine how it will be when you arrive very late. Some areas of the museum could be too congested with tourists later in the day so that's another reason to be there early. But crowded or not, the Vatican museums never fail to amaze its visitors. It is always worth it. Leave a Comment Address: Entrance at Viale Vatican right by Via SantamauraDirections: Vatican City, Ottaviano, Line A (metro)
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