The Vatican Museum

In an earlier post, I said that in Rome, one need only go into a church  to see some of the best works of art, and this for free! But for those who like going to museums, and for those willing to pay the entrance fee, there is the Capitoline Museum and the National Museum in the Palace Massimo, but the mother of all museums has to be the Vatican!

The Vatican Museums, (yes plural, they say there are 13 museums in the 5.5 hectare complex) , located inside the Vatican City State have to be one of the richest museums in the world displaying an immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic church throughout the centuries.



Courtyard of the Pine Cone in the grounds of the Vatican Museum



Pope Julius II began the museum in the 16th century when he bought the sculpture of Laocoon and his sons from a vineyard owner upon the recommendation of the great Michelangelo. A month after the purchase, the pope put this statue on display in the Vatican.

The sculpture that started it all

That single sculpture became the seed for what is now undoubtedly one of the richest if not the greatest collection of art in the world today.

Going to the Vatican Museum can be a challenge. Because I don't like having schedules when I am not at work, I tried going to the museum numerous times without planning ahead, needless to say I was unsuccessful. I would get off at the Ottaviano station and walk through streets lined with shops, encountering tour guides hawking tickets to the museum with the the enticing words "skip the lines" whispered in your ear or shouted at you depending on how desperate the vendor is.

I decided to book tickets "and skip the lines" when my girls came to visit us. Skipping the lines is a very relative statement, since you do get to skip the lines at the ticket counters but no one said anything about the lines inside the Museums! But then again, you begin to accept the fact that stamina, patience and determination are necessary if one is to enjoy this visit.



bottom view of spiral staircase to entrance of the museum
picture taken from www.overexposedme.wordpress.com

Climbing the spiral staircase is the beginning. Once inside, you continue to flow with  a current-like tide of people pulling you from one exhibit to the next. There are no names on the pieces, no explanations so you just go on walking looking at one amazing piece and then the next. It is a rather frustrating experience, believe me! With all the money the museum generates, it would seem sensible or at least kind to us poor tourists to spend some of that on proper documentation and identification of these pieces. I bought a book afterwards which lists all the art work in most of the rooms but who can remember all of those after the fact? Or maybe I should have bought the book before I went into the musuem? But who said I was organized?

Gallery of Maps

So I followed the crowd, taking pictures (which thankfully was allowed, except in the Sistine Chapel). What was amazing about the Vatican Museum was not only the objects in display but also the decorated gilded ceilings, and ceiling frescoes.

And not to be outdone, the beautiful mosaic floors with its myriad patterns and designs:

Amid all the exhibits, I found a very curious but interesting exhibit of disembodied stone feet, booted, sandalled, barefoot or sometimes just some toes.

 

I  made it a point to see the apartments built by Pope Alexander VI, the notorious Borgia pope. (See the posting on the Friar and the Pope). Then there was Raphael's Room, almost as well known as the Sistine Chapel and as crowded. I didn't linger in these areas as taking a picture would mean getting the backs of people and nothing more. I chose to enter rooms that were not overly crowded like the Carriage Room.

So called because of the horses and carriage sculpture in the middle?

I entered the Pinacoteca, the Vatican's painting gallery. The names found in this collection are staggering, with Raphael, Michelangelo, Da Vinci. Just to see all of these would have been impossible, one may need a whole day, or two just to do this. Because I developed this thing for Caravaggio, I went straight to the one I wanted to see, Caravaggio's Deposition.

I walked through the Gallery of Statues.



And sat in awe looking up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

From: The Sistine Chapel by Antonio Paolucci

 

 

Amidst all that splendor, there were some pieces, maybe not done by famous artists, that did bring a smile to my lips and a resonating empathy in my soul.



 

Churches of Rome: Basilica of San Clemente

According to Wikipedia, there are almost 900 hundred churches in Rome. When you walk the streets, in any neighbourhood, no matter how small, you will, without fail, come across a church or two or three. I have entered quite a number of these churches, large and small, so many actually that they have began to merge together. But one small church located close to the Colosseum, along St. John Latern Road is a stand-out! The Basilica of St. Clement is a small, understated, but decidedly elegant church. It was named after Pope St. Clement, who died about 100 AD, and was the third successor of St. Peter in the See of Rome. Not only is the church beautiful, in my opinion, but also, no other church can rival its history. The walls of San Clemente enclose three separate places of worship built one on top of the other, spanning a period of over two thousand years!

Courtyard of San Clemente

Walking into this church is very different from entering a lot of others. Entering through the main entrance, you first step into a small, peaceful, courtyard with an unpretentious fountain in the middle. 

Interior of San Clemente

The church at the ground level is a medieval basilica, with beautiful cosmatesque floors, reputedly done by the Cosmati brothers themselves, the Cosmati family being the leading marble craftsmen creating this geometric decorative inlaid type of stonework. In front of the altar, the choir is separated from the rest of the congregation by a white marble enclosure bearing the earliest papal insignia, that of John II.

Tree of Life mosaic

Then you see the beautiful Tree of life mosaic from the 1180s on the apse. This depicts the Triumph of the cross, expressed with perfection through colored stone and glass! Truly magnificent!

On the right side, the newly restored chapel of St. Catharine feature frescoes in soft pastel colors of scenes in the life of St. Catharine.

Fresco Madonna and Child

Entering the bookshop, after paying the entrance fee, you proceed down to the excavations. The lower level features the 4^th century church. You can walk through the church, encountering frescoes illustrating the life of St. Clemens, a mosaic of St. Cyril in the nave of the church and on the North aisle a Byzantine Madonna and child on a niche, slightly to the left of a hole, reputedly through which in 1857, Fr. Joseph Mulooly, then prior of St. Clement, broke through to the 4^th century church after excavations began.

Temple of Mithras

Going down to the next level, lit by florescent tubes, which casts everything in a rather spooky glow, you come upon a 2^nd century temple to Mithras, a pre-Zoroastrian Persian god. Mithraism was a very secretive religion. Their temples were usually in caves or made to resemble caves. Little is known of this cult because of its secret nature. It is said that it emphasized loyalty, contacts and friendship between men, especially officers of the army and rulers. There were no known women followers. They were also known to share communal meals as seen from the remains of their temples.

Rooms of Roman House

As you go through this level, you hear the constant flow of water coming from the ancient sewer, the Cloaca Maxima which is still in use. Alongside the temple you can explore several rooms of a Roman house built after the fire of 64 A.D. I continued walking across a narrow alley which brought me to the ground floor rooms of this first century house. I stepped into the first room but the sound of rushing water, coupled with the eerie lighting, the dankness of the surrounding walls and the fact that the three people whom I thought were behind me had turned back, spooked me! I hurried after them!

Before leaving the church, I sat in one of the benches placed along the wall of the courtyard, where a cool breeze wafted through. Beside me, sat an American couple, after a period of silence the wife tells her husband, "this church I like". I agreed with her!