Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums trace their origin to a single marble sculpture, purchased in the 16th century: Laocoön and His Sons was discovered on 14 January 1506, in a vineyard near the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Pope Julius II sent Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo, who were working at the Vatican, to examine the discovery.{{Cite news|last=Shattuck|first=Kathryn|date=2005-04-18|title=An Ancient Masterpiece or a Master's Forgery?|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/18/arts/design/an-ancient-masterpiece-or-a-masters-forgery.html|access-date=2021-10-17|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2021-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017041729/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/18/arts/design/an-ancient-masterpiece-or-a-masters-forgery.html|url-status=live}} On their recommendation, the Pope immediately purchased the sculpture from the vineyard owner. The Pope put the sculpture, which represents the Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being attacked by giant serpents, on public display at the Vatican exactly one month after its discovery.{{Cite web|first=Joe|last=Lapointe|title=Muralist has grand plans for Cobo fresco|url=https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/arts/2016/08/29/hubert-massey-educates-art/89572026/|access-date=2021-10-17|website=The Detroit News|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017041730/https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/arts/2016/08/29/hubert-massey-educates-art/89572026/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Grovier|first=Kelly|title=Laocoön and His Sons: The revealing detail in an ancient find|url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210721-laocon-and-his-sons-the-ultimate-expression-of-suffering|access-date=2021-10-17|website=www.bbc.com|language=en|archive-date=2021-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017041729/https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210721-laocon-and-his-sons-the-ultimate-expression-of-suffering|url-status=live}}

Benedict XIV founded the Museum Christianum, and some of the Vatican collections formed the Lateran Museum, which Pius IX founded by decree in 1854.{{CathEncy|wstitle=Christian Museums}}

The museums celebrated their 500th anniversary in October 2006 by permanently opening the excavations of a Vatican Hill necropolis to the public.{{cite news |first=Barbara |last=McMahon |url=https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,1891559,00.html |title=Ancient Roman treasures found under Vatican car park |work=The Guardian |date=10 October 2006 |location=Manchester |access-date=29 August 2017 |archive-date=10 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310115526/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/oct/10/italy.travelnews |url-status=live }}

On 1 January 2017, Barbara Jatta became the Director of the Vatican Museums, replacing Antonio Paolucci who had been director since 2007.{{cite news| url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/12/20/pope-names-first-woman-to-head-vatican-museums/| title=Pope names first woman to head Vatican Museums| work=The Catholic Herald| date=20 December 2016| last=Glatz| first=Carol| access-date=29 August 2017| archive-date=16 July 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716045639/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/12/20/pope-names-first-woman-to-head-vatican-museums/| url-status=live}}{{cite web| last1=Rykner| first1=Didier| title=Antonio Paolucci, the new Director of the Vatican Museums| url=http://www.thearttribune.com/Antonio-Paolucci-the-new-Director.html| date=7 December 2007| website=The Art Tribune| access-date=28 August 2017| archive-date=17 October 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017002058/http://www.thearttribune.com/Antonio-Paolucci-the-new-Director.html| url-status=dead}}

File:Room XII (17th century) of the Pinacoteca Vaticana.jpg

The art gallery was housed in the Borgia Apartment until Pius XI ordered construction of a dedicated building. The new building, designed by Luca Beltrami, was inaugurated on 27 October 1932.{{cite web |url=http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/PIN/PIN_Main.html |title=Pinacoteca |publisher=Vatican Museums |access-date=29 August 2017 |archive-date=29 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151229025444/http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/PIN/PIN_Main.html |url-status=live }} The museum's paintings include:

• Giotto: Stefaneschi Triptych
• Olivuccio di Ciccarello: Opere di Misericordia
• Filippo Lippi: Marsuppini Coronation
• Giovanni Bellini: Pietà
• Melozzo da Forlì: Sixtus IV Appointing Platina as Prefect of the Vatican Library
• Pietro Perugino: Decemviri Altarpiece and San Francesco al Prato Resurrection
• Leonardo da Vinci: Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
• Raphael: Madonna of Foligno, Oddi Altarpiece and Transfiguration
• Titian: Frari Madonna
• Antonio da Correggio: Christ in Glory
• Paolo Veronese: The Vision of Saint Helena
• Caravaggio: The Entombment of Christ
• Domenichino, The Last Communion of Saint Jerome
• Nicolas Poussin, The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus
• Jan Matejko: Sobieski at Vienna

The Collection of Modern Religious Art was added in 1973 and houses paintings and sculptures from such artists as Carlo Carrà, Giorgio de Chirico, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso.{{cite web| url=http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/monumenti/musei-vaticani.html| title=The Vatican Museums| publisher=Vatican City State| access-date=28 August 2017| archive-date=11 June 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611031853/http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/monumenti/musei-vaticani.html| url-status=live}}

The group of museums includes several sculpture museums surrounding the Cortile del Belvedere. These are the Museo Gregoriano Profano, with classical sculpture, and others as below:

File:The Braschi Antinous.jpg

File:Museos Vaticanos, Ciudad del Vaticano, 2022-09-14, DD 39.jpg

File:D473-birème romaine-Liv2-ch10.png bireme depicted in a relief from the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia in Praeneste (Palestrina),{{cite book| first=D. B.| last=Saddington| year=2011| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1D612o_X2VYC&q=bireme&pg=PR10| chapter=Classes: the Evolution of the Roman Imperial Fleets Plate 12.2 on p. 204| editor-first=Paul| editor-last=Erdkamp| title=A Companion to the Roman Army| pages=201–217| location=Malden| publisher=Wiley-Blackwell| isbn=978-1-4051-2153-8| access-date=2020-11-22| archive-date=2022-11-20| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120223316/https://books.google.com/books?id=1D612o_X2VYC&q=bireme&pg=PR10| url-status=live}} constructed {{circa|120 BC}};{{cite book| last=Coarelli| first=Filippo| year=1987| title=I Santuari del Lazio in età repubblicana| publisher=Carocci| pages=35–84| isbn=9788843006793| url-access=subscription| trans-title=The Sanctuaries of Lazio in the Republican age| language=it| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZBoAAAAMAAJ| access-date=2020-09-27| archive-date=2021-05-26| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526161544/https://books.google.com/books?id=XZBoAAAAMAAJ| url-status=live}} in the Museo Pio-Clementino]]

The museum takes its name from two popes: Clement XIV, who established the museum, and Pius VI, who brought it to completion. Clement XIV came up with the idea of creating a new museum in Innocent VIII's Belvedere Palace and started the refurbishment work.{{cite book| title=The Vatican Museum: Discover the history, the works of art, the collections| last=Bertoldi| first=Susanna| publisher=Sillabe| year=2011| isbn=978-88-8271-210-5| location=Vatican City| pages=46, 96}}

Clement XIV founded the Museo Pio-Clementino in 1771; it originally contained artworks of antiquity and the Renaissance. The museum and collection were enlarged by Clement's successor Pius VI. Today, the museum houses works of Greek and Roman sculpture. Some notable galleries are as follows:

• Octagonal Court (aka Belvedere Courtyard and Cortile delle Statue): this was where some of the first ancient classical statues in the papal collections were first displayed. Some of the most famous pieces, the Apollo of the Belvedere and Laocoön and His Sons have been here since the early 1500s.
• Sala Rotonda: shaped like a miniature Pantheon, the room has ancient mosaics on the floors, and ancient statues lining the perimeter, including a gilded bronze statue of Hercules and the Braschi Antinous.
• Greek Cross Gallery (Sala a Croce Greca): with the porphyry sarcophagi of Constance and Saint Helena, daughter and mother of Constantine the Great.
• Gallery of the Statues (Galleria delle Statue): as its name implies, holds various important statues, including Sleeping Ariadne and the bust of Menander. It also contains the Barberini Candelabra.
• Gallery of the Busts (Galleria dei Busti) Many ancient busts are displayed.
• Cabinet of the Masks (Gabinetto delle Maschere). The name comes from the mosaic on the floor of the gallery, found in Villa Adriana, which shows ancient theater masks. Statues are displayed along the walls, including the Three Graces.
• Sala delle Muse: houses the statue group of Apollo and the nine muses, uncovered in a Roman villa near Tivoli in 1774, as well as statues by important ancient Greek or Roman sculptors. The centerpiece is the Belvedere Torso, revered by Michelangelo and other Renaissance men.{{cite book| publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art| isbn=978-08-70993480| last=Montebello| first=Philippe De| author2=Kathleen Howard| title=The Vatican: Spirit and Art of Christian Rome| year=1983| pages=[https://archive.org/details/vaticanspirit00metr/page/178 178–180]| chapter=Sala delle Muse| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZUsI-lePtIC&pg=PA178| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/vaticanspirit00metr/page/178}}
• Sala degli Animali: so named because of the many ancient statues of animals.{{cite news |title=Waking the gods: how the classical world cast its spell over British art |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/oct/21/waking-the-gods-how-the-classical-world-cast-its-spell-over-british-art |work=the Guardian |date=21 October 2016 |language=en |access-date=17 October 2021 |archive-date=17 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017041729/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/oct/21/waking-the-gods-how-the-classical-world-cast-its-spell-over-british-art |url-status=live }}

File:Mars of Todi.jpg is an ancient Etruscan bronze statue from the late 400s BC; in the Gregorian Etruscan Museum.]]

This museum was founded in the early 19th century by Pius VII, whose surname before his election as Pope was Chiaramonti. The museum consists of a large arched gallery in which are exhibited several statues, sarcophagi and friezes. The New Wing, or Braccio Nuovo, built by Raffaele Stern, houses statues including the Augustus of Prima Porta, the Doryphoros, and The River Nile. It is in the Neoclassical style and has a wide arched roof with skylights. The Galleria Lapidaria forms part of the Museo Chiaramonti, and contains over 3,000 stone tablets and inscriptions. It is accessible only with special permission, usually for the purpose of academic study.

File:"Yellow Coffin" - Ancient Egyptian.jpg

Founded by Gregory XVI in 1837, this museum has nine galleries and houses Etruscan pieces, coming from archaeological excavations in the territory of the Papal State as well as other works already held in the Vatican.{{cite web |url=http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/museo-gregoriano-etrusco.html |title=Museo Gregoriano Etrusco |publisher=Vatican Museums |access-date=2021-01-05 |archive-date=2021-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119025556/http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/museo-gregoriano-etrusco.html |url-status=live }} The collection include vases, sarcophagus, bronzes, terracotta, ceramics as well as works from the Falcioni and Guglielmi Collections.

File:Statue of the Nile recumbent.jpg

This museum houses a large collection of artifacts from Ancient Egypt and also many Egyptian works of Roman production in nine rooms. The Carlo Grassi Collection of bronzes is part of the collection.{{cite web |url=http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MEZ/MEZ_Main.html |title=Gregorian Egyptian Museum |publisher=Vatican Museums |access-date=2014-08-21 |archive-date=2014-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027034855/http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MEZ/MEZ_Main.html |url-status=live }} Such material includes papyruses, sarcophagi, mummies, sculptures and reproductions of the Book of the Dead.{{cite web| url=http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Schede/MEZs/MEZs_Sala02_03.html| title=Monuments exhibited in Room II of the Egyptian Museum| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705035120/http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Schede/MEZs/MEZs_Sala02_03.html |archive-date=5 July 2011}}

The Vatican Historical Museum ({{langx|it|Museo storico vaticano}}) was founded in 1973 at the behest of Paul VI,{{cite book| title=Guide to the Vatican Museums and City| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yONbB1g9zcC| access-date=9 May 2013| year=1986| publisher=Musei Vaticani| isbn=978-88-86921-11-4| archive-date=2024-03-10| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310115543/https://books.google.com/books?id=_yONbB1g9zcC| url-status=live}} and was initially hosted in environments under the Square Garden. In 1987, it moved to the main floor of the Lateran Palace, where it opened in March 1991.

File:Italy-3104 - Apollo (5378415112).jpg|After Leochares
Apollo Belvedere
Museo Pio-Clementino

File:Laocoön and his sons group.jpg|Agesander, Athenodorus and Polydorus
Laocoön and His Sons
Museo Pio-Clementino

File:Torso del Belvedere. Museo Pio Clementino, Musei Vaticani (Roma) - panoramio.jpg|Apollonius
Belvedere Torso
Museo Pio-Clementino

File:Augustus of Prima Porta (inv. 2290).jpg|alt=A marble statue of the Emperor Augustus. He stands with one arm raised as if in command. Augustus is portrayed as a man of about thirty five, with short hair and clean shaven. He wears Roman military uniform of a breast plate, leather accoutrements and a cloak over a short tunic. The breastplate is decorated with symbolic figures. As a work of art, the statue displays high technical mastery.|Roman, 1st century AD
Augustus of Prima Porta
Museo Chiaramonti

File:Leonardo, san girolamo.jpg|Leonardo da Vinci
Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
Pinacoteca Vaticana

File:Creación de Adán.jpg|Michelangelo
The Creation of Adam
Sistine Chapel (ceiling)

File:"The School of Athens" by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino.jpg|Raphael
The School of Athens
Raphael Rooms

File:Transfiguration Raphael.jpg|Raphael
The Transfiguration
Pinacoteca Vaticana

File:Last Judgement by Michelangelo.jpg|Michelangelo
The Last Judgment
Sistine Chapel

File:Caravaggio - La Deposizione di Cristo.jpg|Caravaggio
The Entombment of Christ
Pinacoteca Vaticana

File:Sleeping Ariadne 2.jpg|Sleeping Ariadne
Galleria delle Statue

File:Australia occidentale, munja, walcott, dipinto di wandjina (spirito creatore), 1920 ca..JPG|Walcott Inlet area, Western Australia
Depiction of Wandjina
Anima Mundi

File:Vincent van Gogh - Pietà (after Delacroix).jpg|Vincent van Gogh – Pietà

File:Vatican. Galery IMG 4451.jpg|alt=Photo of a long wide corridor filled with a crowd of people in casual dress. The ceiling is arched and is elaborately decorated with gilt stucco and small brightly coloured pictures. The walls have frescoes of large maps, each of which has a brilliant blue background.]]

File:Vatican Museums Spiral Staircase 2012.jpg; spiral stairs of the Vatican Museums, designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932]]

• The red marble papal throne, formerly in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.
• Roman sculpture, tombstones, and inscriptions, including the Early Christian Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus and Dogmatic sarcophagus, and the epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus.
• The Raphael Rooms with many works by Raphael and his workshop, including the masterpiece The School of Athens (1509–1511).
• The Niccoline Chapel.
• The Sistine Chapel, including the Sistine Chapel ceiling (gallery).
• The Gallery of Maps: topographical maps of the whole of Italy, painted on the walls by friar Ignazio Danti of Perugia, commissioned by Gregory XIII (1572–1585). It remains the world's largest pictorial geographical study.
• The frescoes and other works in the Borgia Apartment built for the Borgia pope Alexander VI.
• The Bramante Staircase is a double spiral staircase designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932. The staircase has two parts, a double helix, and is of shallow incline, being a stepped ramp rather than a true staircase. It encircles the outer wall of a stairwell about {{convert|15|m|ft|spell=in|abbr=off}} wide and with a clear space at the centre. The balustrade around the ramp is of ornately worked metal.

{{wide image|Vatican Museum Queue - April 2007.jpg|1500px|On the last Sunday of each month, the Vatican Museum is open to the public for free. It is popular and common for people to wait in line for many hours. The other days of the week tickets are available online or in person. This image is a panoramic view of one small stretch of the entire queue on Sunday 29 April 2007, which continues for some distance in both directions beyond view.}}

On 18 August 2022, two members of the climate activist group Ultima Generazione glued themselves to the marble base of the Laocoon statue and unfurled a banner calling for an end to fossil fuels while a third member filmed them. Conservationists said that the act resulted in permanent damage to the sculpture, with restoration works costing 3,148 euros. A Vatican court subsequently sentenced the three to a nine-month suspended prison sentence and fines of up to 28,000 euros ($30,000).{{cite news |last=Winfield |first=Nicole |title=Vatican court convicts climate activists for damaging statue, fines them more than 28,000 euros |url=https://apnews.com/article/vatican-climate-protest-museum-protest-environment-pope-94c9c2646cae6839f6d3f7be68866f3f |access-date=12 June 2023 |work=Associated Press |date=25 December 2023 |archive-date=13 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613035828/https://apnews.com/article/vatican-climate-protest-museum-protest-environment-pope-94c9c2646cae6839f6d3f7be68866f3f |url-status=live }}

On 5 October 2022, an American tourist was arrested after hurling a Roman bust at the Chiaramonti Museum and damaging another bust. Il Messaggero reported that the man damaged the artefacts in anger after he was informed that he could not have an audience with Pope Francis as part of his vacation wish. The museum's press director Matteo Alessandrini said one bust lost part of a nose and an ear, while the other was knocked off its pedestal. Conservation and repair works on the sculptures were estimated to cost 15,000 euros ($14,800 US) and took about 300 hours to be completed.{{cite news |last=Chisholm |first=Johanna |title=US tourist arrested after smashing ancient Roman sculptures in response to not seeing Pope at Vatican |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/american-tourist-vatican-busts-arrested-b2197265.html |access-date=8 October 2022 |work=The Independent |date=20 December 2023 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007211528/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/american-tourist-vatican-busts-arrested-b2197265.html |url-status=live }}

• Index of Vatican City–related articles
• List of largest art museums
• List of most visited art museums
• List of museums in Rome
• Michelangelo Simonetti

{{Reflist}}

• G. Spinola, Il Museo Pio-Clementino (3 vol.s, 1996, 1999, 2004)
• G. B. Visconti and E. Q. Visconti, Il Museo Pio-Clementino Descritto (8 vols., 1782–1792)
• {{cite book |first=John |last=Daley |title=The Vatican: spirit and art of Christian Rome |location=New York |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |year=1982 |isbn=978-0810917118 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QHEkAQAAMAAJ&q=The+Vatican:+Spirit+and+Art+of+Christian+Rome}}
• Peter Rohrbacher: [https://www.academia.edu/8940475/V%C3%B6lkerkunde_und_Afrikanistik_f%C3%BCr_den_Papst._Missionsexperten_und_der_Vatikan_1922_1939_in_R%C3%B6mische_Historische_Mitteilungen_54_2012_583_610 Völkerkunde und Afrikanistik für den Papst. Missionsexperten und der Vatikan 1922–1939] in: Römische Historische Mitteilungen 54 (2012), 583–610.

{{commons category}}

• {{official website}}
• [https://tickets.museivaticani.va/ Vatican Museums official on-line ticket office]
• [https://vaticanmuseums.tickets/ Vatican Museums tickets finder]
• [http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html Official English information]
• [http://catalogo.museivaticani.va On-line arts Catalogue]
• [http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.html Vatican Museum's 360 degree panorama virtual tour]
• [https://vacationandbeyond.com/vatican-museums-and-st-peters-basilica-a-journey-through-divine-artistry Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica: A Journey Through Divine Artistry]

{{Sistine Chapel}}

{{Vatican City topics}}

{{Holy See}}

{{Catholic Church footer}}

{{Rome museums}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1506 establishments in the Papal States

Category:Art museums and galleries in Rome

Category:1506 in art

Category:Art museums and galleries established in the 2nd millennium

Category:Educational organizations established in the 1500s

Category:Museums established in the 16th century

Category:Museums in Vatican City

Category:Museums of ancient Greece

Category:Museums of ancient Rome

Category:Museums of Dacia

Category:National museums

Category:National galleries

Category:Organizations established in the 1500s

Category:Culture of Vatican City

Category:Double spiral staircases

Category:Rome Q. XIV Trionfale

Category:Christian museums