Vatican Museum

After we were in St.  Peter’s Basilica, we ran over to the Vatican Museum.  While you may think Vatican City isn’t that big, it is about a 15-18 minute walk to the entrance of the Vatican museum. 

We did buy tickets in advance.  It guaranteed us entrance without having to wait in line.  We bought tickets for right at opening since we had the crypt tour tickets for 11:30 AM.  What a mass of people.  All of the tours seem to get there right at 9 AM too.  We did push our way towards the front, which was allowed, but getting through the museum was crazy.  If I were to do it over again, I would have gotten them for after opening e.g., 10 AM or something like that.  While still a long queue if you had not pre-bought tickets, it seemed like the lobby was at least under control when we left.

I knew we did not have a ton of time to dawdle in the museum even though we had about two hours in the  museum.  It sure did take a long time to navigate the tour groups.  We (more or less) followed the main path/route through the museum.  If you see something you like, stop and pause, since the path doesn’t take you back past it. 

We check out the Raphael rooms, which he had gotten as a result of knowing the right person.  He made them a standout option for a new pope.  It was quite unique and different.  He was young and relatively unknown, but definitely ambitious.  While doing those successfully, Raphael thought he should have been given the Sistine Chapel as well.

Michalangelo had almost the reverse personality.  Dour, hard working, meticulous, he had been given the commission to work on the Sistine Chapel after decades of work. 

Before getting to the Sistine Chapel though, you actually walk through the modern art section of the museum.  We saw Matisse, Dali and even, Kandinsky.  The modern religious art is really interesting to see.  It is not a topic that discusses much, but is still a theme for a number of very well-known artists.  Catholicism continues to pull emotions and inspire artists.

Jason had never seen the Sistine Chapel before; we were lucky enough to get seats along the edge.  He thought it was spectacular.  He was also amazed at relatively speaking at how small some of the famous parts of it were.  It can be really overwhelming! 

We then had to high tail it out of the Vatican Museum to get to our crypt tour.  We easily could have spent another two hours in the museum.  It is HUGE.  I did not even check out the gift store, which I am sure was amazing. 

We will definitely be back on our next trip to Rome.  This could definitely be a “visit every time you are there” museum and location.  

Time in museum: 2.25 hrs
Times visited: 2
Overall: A