Museums of the Vatican

Most of the collections of cultural masterpieces and historical artifacts, collected over five centuries by the Roman Catholic Church, are kept in the huge complex "Vatican Museums" (Musei Vaticani). The complex, located on the other side of the wall, consists of 54 galleries, which are visited annually by more than 5 million tourists.

History and opening hours of the Vatican Museums

The first museum was founded by Pope Julius II at the beginning of the 16th century. We can say that the history of the world-famous collection began with the discovery of the marble sculpture "Laocoon and his sons". The sculpture was found on January 14, 1506, and a month after the confirmation of its authenticity, it was bought from the owner and installed in a special niche in one of the Vatican palaces , Belvedere , for general access.

The entire complex is available for visits daily from 9 am to 6 pm. Weekends: every Sunday and all official religious holidays. The exception is the last Sunday of the month, if it does not fall religious festive - these days before 12:30 the entrance to the Vatican Museums is free. The ticket office closes at 16:00; By the way, after this hour you will not be allowed to enter the museum, even if you bought a ticket in advance. The museum complex is closed: 1 and 6 January, 11 February, 19 and 31 March, 1 April and 1 May, 14-15 August, 29 June, 1 November and Christmas holidays on 25-26 December.

Where can I buy a ticket to the Vatican Museums?

  1. At the box office of the museum complex itself, there is always a line, but it is not infinite.
  2. You can worry in advance about this issue and get a voucher on the site of the museum or sightseeing agencies, its additional cost is € 4. But you save time: for a voucher, printed or readable on a tablet, a separate cashier works.
  3. The ticket can be booked on site in advance on a specific date and time. A printed voucher should be shown without waiting for a special service near the cashiers along with your passport and fully pay.

What is the Vatican Museum Complex?

The complex of Vatican museums is collected with special love world masterpieces, which are divided into halls for thematic or architectural reasons.

  1. The Gregorian Egyptian Museum was founded in 1839, it preserves the art of ancient Egypt from the 3rd millennium BC. Of particular interest are the sarcophagi of the pharaohs, statues of Egyptian gods and rulers, petrified mummies, burial urns and papyri. The museum is divided into nine rooms, one of which is dedicated to Roman sculptures of II-III centuries.
  2. Like the previous museum, the Gregorian Etruscan Museum was opened at the behest of Pope Gregory XVI, in honor of which both museums were named. The main exposition of the museum is the archaeological finds of ancient settlements in southern Etruria. The museum is divided into 22 halls on the subject of exhibits. The most popular are the bronze statue of Mars (4th century BC), the marble portrait of Athena, the most beautiful products of ceramics, glass and bronze.
  3. An unusual collection of candlesticks of the II century from Otrikoli is placed in the so-called Candelabra Gallery . Also there are interesting statues, vases, sarcophagi and frescoes. Next to it is the Galleries degli Arazzi, in which ten fine paintings are made, which were created according to the sketches of Raphael's pupils.
  4. The huge collection of the Pope of various paintings and tapestries that were created during the XI-XIX centuries is called the Vatican's Pinakothek . The oldest painting in Pinakothek is the famous "Last Judgment".
  5. In 1475, the world appeared almost the most secret and huge to date the Vatican Library . For six centuries, it has accumulated more than 1 million 600 thousand printed books, about 150 thousand manuscripts and the same number of engravings, an interesting collection of geographical maps, coins, tapestries and candlesticks. In most of the halls, the entrance is allowed only to the pope and several hundred of the world's scientists.
  6. The sculpture museum of Pius-Clement is located in the most beautiful building of the Belvedere Palace. Graceful architecture is divided into the Animal Hall, the Rotund Hall, the gallery of busts, the Hall of the Greek Cross, the Hall of the Muses and the gallery of statues, as well as two offices: masks and Apoxymena. The museum has many beautiful Roman and Greek statues.
  7. Antique sculptural creations are collected in the museum of Chiaramonti , its main part is a corridor along the walls of which statues, busts, reliefs and sarcophagi of the Roman era are placed. In the other three rooms you will find Roman history, Greek mythology and the world's largest collection of Greco-Roman inscriptions of pagan and Christian content.
  8. One of the narrow long corridors of the Vatican Museum complex is assigned to the Gallery of Geographic Maps . It contains forty colored detailed maps depicting the possessions of the Roman Catholic Church, multiple religious themes and important historical events. All this was created at the request of Gregory XIII to decorate the Pope's palace.
  9. The great Italian artist Raphael, commissioned by Pope Julius II, painted in Vatican four rooms, now known to us as Raphael's Stantsi . The real frescoes of the "Athenian school", "Wisdom, Measure and Force", "Fire in Borgo" and others do not cease to amaze with their beauty.
  10. Apartments Borgia are specially created rooms for Pope Borgia-Alexander VI. The walls of the rooms are painted with magnificent frescoes with biblical scenes of famous artists and monks.
  11. The Pio-Cristiano Museum stores works of the early Christian era in its halls. Here, the sarcophagi of Roman burial places are widely represented in chronological order. One of the most famous exhibits of the museum is the sculpture "The Good Shepherd", which was previously the decoration of one of the sarcophagi, and almost 15 centuries after the restoration it became a separate sculpture.
  12. The ethnological missionary museum is located in the Lateran Palace, today it houses more than one hundred thousand exhibits from around the world: religious cultures of many countries, such as Korea, China, Japan, Mongolia and Tibet, as well as Africa, Oceania and America. You can study the subjects of everyday life and culture of peoples of other continents, part of the museum is accessible only to scientists.
  13. The Nikcolina Chapel is a small room painted with scenes from the lives of St Stephen and Lorenzo in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The author of unique works is the monk-Dominican Fra Beato Angelico.
  14. The most famous and ancient part of the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel , will amaze with the abundance of its masterpieces even the most sophisticated tourist. Art historians recommend to study the scheme of frescos in advance, so that it was understandable and interesting.
  15. The historical museum of the Vatican is the youngest, Pope Paul VI founded it in 1973. The museum's exhibitions are dedicated to the history of the Vatican itself and present to the attention of carriages, cars, uniform of soldiers, items of the daily and festive toilet of the popes, various symbols, photographs and documents.
  16. Interestingly, in 1933, Pope Pius XI founded the Lucifer Museum in the basement of the Church of the Sacred Heart of the Martyr in the Vatican. It stores evidence of the presence of Satan on Earth, but the museum is closed to outsiders.

How to get to the Vatican Museums?

To the main entrance of the Vatican Museum Complex you will easily get to walk on foot if you are in the center of the Eternal City.

You can also get to the Vatican by using the underground, if you go on line A; the necessary stops, from which about 10 minutes walk to the entrance: "The Vatican Museum", "Ottaviano" and "S.Pietro". Convenient tram number 19 follows the stop "Piazza del Risorgimento", which is a couple of steps from the wall of the Vatican.

With regard to urban routes, it all depends on what part of the city you eat: