A tiny state, a sacred enclave, a place where you can get a papal blessing ... Photos of any sight of the Vatican can convince even the most experienced tourist to go on a trip. Where to go, what to see in the Vatican and get useful recommendations regarding a trip here - in this article.
What to see in the Vatican in the first place?
Even a preliminary review of the TOP places of this stronghold of Catholicism will not allow you to see everything yourself. A professional guide will help you plan your excursions so that you can see the main attractions of the Vatican in the allotted time.
1. The Apostolic Palace
The main official residence of the pope is represented by a complex of structures erected at different times. Among them are the most famous sights of the Vatican. If the visit gets here on the weekend, there is a chance to see the pope address the believers with the prayer “Angelus” and a short sermon from the window of his office. This happens every Sunday at noon.
Official website: http://www.vaticanstate.va
2. St. Peter's Basilica
Sorting by importance the main sights of the Vatican, one of the first places should be given to this cathedral. Towering 136 m, it amazes with its size and design. The magnificent architecture of the cathedral owes Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael, Bramante. From the top of the dome offers an amazing view of its interior, decorated with statues of saints, monuments and tombstones.
Official website: http://www.vaticanstate.va
3. St. Peter's Square
Without even deciding in advance what to see in the Vatican in 1 day, you will still get here, because the rating of this place with a pink granite obelisk is off scale. It is in St. Peter's Square that believers gather in order to receive the blessing of the pope, to pray with Catholics around the world, or to participate in a festive mass.
4. Canopy Bernini
Created by the famous architect Lorenzo Bernini (1624-1633), a special canopy over the altar, called a canopy, is located in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. A huge bronze canopy (ciborium) , 29 meters high, is installed directly under the round hole at the top of the dome of the cathedral on four twisted columns on which statues of angels stand. Many decorative elements of the construction celebrate the aristocratic genus of the pontiff Urban VIII, in which the canopy was created. Bernini's masterpiece is still striking all visitors to the cathedral with its luxury and monumentality.
5. Sacred grottoes
The sacred grottoes of the Vatican are located immediately below St. Peter's Basilica in the central square of the Catholic state. This is a whole system of catacombs and tunnels, numerous chapels, where the tomb with the relics of St. Peter, noble persons and rulers of the Vatican is located.
6. Grotta di Lourdes
Not all interesting places of the Vatican are represented by architectural structures. The construction of this artificial cave, deepened in the Vatican Gardens, began at the dawn of the twentieth century. Today it is a small copy of Lourdes Grotto in France. Twined with greenery, it daily attracts a lot of tourists.
7. Sistine Chapel
There is hardly a tourist unfamiliar with this attraction. For what purpose the trip would not be organized, this place is a must to visit. In the middle of the XVI century. supplemented by Michelangelo's “Last Judgment”, the chapel is world famous for its frescoes by the greatest masters: Perugino, Rosselli, Botticelli. Conclaves are held here today.
Official website: http: //www.vaticanstate.
8. Vatican Gardens
In fine weather, nature itself decides what to see in the Vatican. Guides in the Vatican will lead to this landscape botanical park famous for its beauty - without them you can’t get here. In the XVIII century. fruits, vegetables and medical plants were grown here, today the plant world on 20 hectares has an exclusively decorative purpose.
Official website: http://www.vaticanstate.va
9. Pinakothek
The list of the best attractions of the Vatican includes a museum collection of paintings. He founded it in the XVIII century. Pope Pius VI, received a separate building of the Pinacoteca in 1932. The collection of paintings owes its prestige and celebrity to the most famous masters of different eras. In 18 rooms, about 400 paintings are arranged in chronological order.
Official website: http://www.vaticanstate.va/
10. The Rafael Stanzas
Considering the sights of Rome, it is worth planning a visit to this place. 4 palace rooms are entirely painted with frescoes by Raphael from 1508-1517. In the hall of Konstantin, some images were performed after the death of the master by his students. This place deserves the best traveler recommendations.
11. Villa Pia
Dating back to the mid-16th century, this building was a summer villa for popes Pius IV and Paul IV. The structure is quite beautiful: an oval courtyard, lined with greenery, surrounded by two pavilions and two covered passages. Tourists leave the best reviews about statues, murals, amazing tiles on the floors.
12. Pio Clementino Museum
This Museum of Ancient Art occupies a well-deserved place in the list of attractions of the Vatican. In its halls there are sculptures, mosaics, sarcophagi. The aim of the creators of the museum of Pius VI and Clement XIV was the storage of Roman and Greek masterpieces in the territory of the Belvedere Palace. As the collection was replenished, premises were added to the museum, the halls differentiated by theme, niches were made for the most significant sculptures. Many excursions to the Vatican include visiting it.
Official website: http://www.vaticanstate.va/
13. Borgia Apartments
A detailed description of this attraction of the Vatican is difficult to compose, it is better to see it once. The walls of the apartments, located in the private wing of the Vatican Palace a floor below the Rentschel Stanzas, are painted with unique frescoes. In addition to 6 rooms with thematic names, the apartment is complemented by a treasury and papal bedroom.
Official website: http://www.vaticanstate.va/content
14. Church of Santo Stefano degli Abyssini
Any brief overview of local attractions contains information about this church. Think what to visit in Vatican? Come here! The oldest church existing here is famous for its 15th-century fresco. "The Virgin and Child". Do not be fooled by the restrained appearance of the facade, decorated on the sides with two antique columns: it’s very beautiful inside.
15. Swiss Guard
Today, the guards of the armed forces, the only ones in the Vatican, created at the beginning of the 16th century, participate in diplomatic missions and masses, and carry guard at the entrance to the state, near the cloisters of the pope and the secretary of state. They can be seen on all floors of the Apostolic Palace. The impressive appearance of the guards is admired and respected.
Sights of the Vatican: what else to visit in the Vatican
A small state is replete with famous objects. The best hotels in the Vatican are always ready to receive guests who decide to stay here for a couple of days to see as much as possible.
16. Chapel of Niccolina
This small two-story chapel is located in the oldest building of the Apostolic Palace and is considered to be a famous landmark of the Vatican. By order of Pope Nicholas V, its walls were painted by the master Fra Beato Angelico. The motifs of the frescoes preserved today on three walls are dedicated to the biographies of St. Lawrence and St. Stephen.
17. Gregorian Etruscan Museum
Not sure where to go to the Vatican during a trip to Italy? This museum is definitely worth a look. At the time of opening in 1837, the exposition consisted of finds found ten years earlier in southern Entruria during excavations of ancient settlements. Each of the 22 rooms is dedicated to individual exhibits. Here is a marble portrait of Athena, a bronze statue of Mars, jewelry, household items.
Official website: http://www.vaticanstate.va
18. Yard of Pini
When thinking what to see in the Vatican, be sure to visit the Pinney Courtyard, which combines the Belvedere and Apostolic palaces. Its second name - the Yard of the Pine cone - received a place because of a 4-meter bronze cone crowned by an antique fountain. Its base is decorated with bas-reliefs depicting athletes of ancient Rome. In 1990, a golden installation in the shape of a sphere with a diameter of 4 m was installed in the Yard.
19. Gallery of candelabra
The Candelabra Gallery is one of the three famous galleries of the Vatican, located in the wing connecting the Apostolic Palace and the Belvedere Palace. In this eight-meter Gallery, massive marble candelabra (II century AD) are installed in the side openings of the arcades, which gave the name to the gallery. Also in the Gallery are ancient sarcophagi and Roman copies of ancient Greek statues created in the Hellenistic period.
20. Gallery Arazzi
The famous Tapestry Gallery (Arazzi Gallery), 100 meters away, contains 10 biblical-themed Flemish trellises depicting scenes from the New and Old Testaments created from drawings by Raphael's students at the Brussels Manufactory by Peter van Alst. The tapestry gallery is located in the wing connecting the Belvedere Palace and the Apostolic Palace, immediately behind the Candelabra Gallery, in front of the Gallery of Geographical Maps.
21. Gallery of geographical maps
The gallery is a corridor 120 m long and 6 m wide, where a magnificent series of frescoes in the form of 40 geographical maps are located. From floor to ceiling, its walls are covered with images of the former possessions of the Catholic Church and the most important regions of Italy during the era of Pope Gregory XIII.
22. Chiaramonti Museum
What to visit in the Vatican lovers of antiquity? The Chiaramonti Museum, founded at the very beginning of the 19th century, is dedicated to ancient sculpture. It consists of 2 halls and a large gallery in the form of a high arch. Here are exhibited works of Greco-Roman art, more than 3 thousand fragments of inscriptions of pagan and Christian content.
Official website: http://www.vaticanstate.va/conten
23. Leoninsky wall
Initially, this ancient fortification towered only around the Vatican. After the Saracens attack in 846, the construction of the fortification began. As a result, 13 towers were built that defended against an enemy attack. Today, in the oldest part of the Vatican Gardens, you can observe the surviving parts of the wall, decorated with Vatican symbols.
24. Vatican Apostolic Library
Founded in the 15th century, the Vatican Apostolic Library stores over 1.5 million books, a myriad of prints, manuscripts, coins, incunabula. On its territory there is a school for teaching librarianship, collection items are being restored in the local laboratory. Library funds are replenished today.
25. Gregorian Egyptian Museum
The foundation of this museum with a unique collection of archaeological artifacts dates from 1839. In 9 rooms, along with exhibits of ancient Egyptian culture, finds of ancient Syria and Mesopotamia are presented. Here are items made of bronze and clay (IV-II century BC), objects of Islamic and Christian ceramics, mummies, painted sarcophagi.
Official website: http://www.vaticanstate.va/
As the experience of experienced travelers testifies, the sights of Italy , in particular, Rome themselves do not exist without the Vatican. Without a visit to this “state in the state” the impression of the eternal city will be incomplete.
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