The Vatican Museum

#46 - Rome, Italy

#45

#47

Visited Here?

Do You Dream?

You won't mind the stiff neck afterwards.

"Trust us, it's worth spending all day stargazing at the beautiful paintings on the Vatican Museums' ceilings. From room to room, in all the 13 museums in the 14 Vatican Palaces, you'll see works of art by Raphael, Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Giotto - do we need to go on? Everything is worth our #46 spot of AbsoluteVisits.

Slide 1: Serious Statues - Vatican Museum

#1 Vatican Museum Photo - Brad Harbach
Slide 2: The Vatican Museum Courtyard

#2 Vatican Museum Photo - Brad Harbach
Slide 3: A Thousand Faces - Vatican Museum

#3 Vatican Museum Photo - Brad Harbach
Slide 4: Roman Mosaic - Don't forget to look d...

#4 Vatican Museum Photo - Karen Powers
Slide 5: The Royal Bathtub - Vatican Museum

#5 Vatican Museum Photo - Brad Harbach

Overview

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Quick Facts & History

The Vatican Museum complex in Rome, Italy is the largest museum complex in the world with over 1,000 museums and galleries full of masterpieces gathered by various popes.
It is said that the Vatican Museums are over 9 miles (14.5 km) long and if you spent only one minute observing each work it would take almost 4 years to see it all!
The Vatican Museums began with one work of art: the sculpture of Laocoon, who allegedly was the priest that tried to convince people that the Greeks gift of a Trojan horse was a trap. The sculpture was brought into the city of Rome and from there, various popes continued to add to the collection.
The Sistine chapel, made famous for the masterpiece on the ceiling painted by Michelangelo, depicts the figure of God six different times on the ceiling alone.