The Vatican is a museum in the city or a state of museums?

Incredible in its cultural, historical and artistic value, the collection of archaeological and historical artifacts, works of religious and secular art has one of the most miniature countries-cities of our planet - the Vatican. Museum-State - this is how you can name this city, in the huge complex of Musei Vaticani which stores most of the treasures accumulated by the Roman Catholic Church for many centuries.

A bit of history

In the XV century, by order of the Pope Sixtus IV in the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel named in his honor was built . Its construction was managed by the architect de Dolci according to the project of another author - Baccio Pontelli. The rather modest church structure inside was decorated with paintings of such artists of the Renaissance as Domenico Ghirlandaio and Sandro Botticelli, P. Perugino and K. Rosselli. The world-famous fresco "The Last Judgment" of the work of the great Michelangelo adorns this chapel.

At the beginning of the XVI century, the Torre dei Borgia (Tower of Borgia) appears in the Vatican, which today is considered not only a historical but also an architectural monument. Around the same time, Pope Julius II begins to collect a variety of exquisite items and, in particular, copies of sculptures of ancient masters. To accommodate these exhibits was allocated a suitable room - Octagonal courtyard.

The Vatican acquired the status of a sovereign state with legalized papal power only in the first quarter of the last century, after the Lateran Treaty was signed. However, according to this document previously available only for the Catholic clergy and rich and noble people, the exposition of cultural, historical and religious values was prescribed to be open to viewers by everyone.

What can you see?

Today, about 1/5 of the territory of the Vatican is opened for tourists. The museum of the Raphael loggias, where some travelers aspire to get to, as such does not exist. This is part of the official papal reception, where ordinary travelers are closed. But even without this there is something to see in the Vatican: about 19 museums and more than 1400 rooms (galleries, chapels, halls and chapels) open for visiting and inspection. The total length of all the proposed excursion routes is about 7 kilometers.

What museums work?

To tell in detail about all the museums of the Vatican accessible to tourists we will not, just list them:

• Apartment Borgia.
• Ethnological missionary.
• Historical.
• Kyaramonti.
• Pia-Clement.
• Pio Cristiano.
• The Pinakothek.
• Gregorian.
• Egyptian.
• Etruscan.
• Secular art.

Galleries:

• Geographical maps;
• Candelabra;
• Tapestries.

Chapels:

• Nikolina;
• Sistine.

In order to simply bypass, not particularly considering the exhibits, all the Vatican museums (traveler's testimonies testify to this), it will take more than one day. More than three hours of regular, not having a special preparation for the tourist can not stand. Therefore, it is better to think in advance what you want to see first and give maximum time to one or two museums.

Opening Hours

Want to learn more about the Vatican? You can choose a museum for a better acquaintance with the mini-country. All of them start their work from 9 am and are open until 6 pm. That's only come to the cash desks better somewhere by 8 am, since at the height of the tourist season, the queue of unorganized travelers is quite large, and you can stand in it for several hours. Ticket offices are open until 16:00, but museums themselves will have to leave no later than half past six in the evening, that is, 30 minutes before their closing. Unlike our museums, the Vatican works on Sunday only if it's the last Sunday of the month.

If such holidays as Easter, the Day of the Apostles Peter and Paul (June 29), Catholic Christmas (December 25), St. Stephen's Day (December 26), and the last Sunday of the month coincided, then venture safely to the Vatican, any museum can be visited 12:30 absolutely free.

Positive feedback on the Vatican Museums is left by tourists who were fortunate enough to visit them in the evening, from 19 to 23 hours. This opportunity is from May to October, with the exception of August. In museums, the entrance will be closed at half past nine in the evening, but visitors already inside will be able to continue the inspection until 23:00.

Ticket prices

To get to the Vatican Museums, tickets must be bought at the ticket offices. During the tourist season, the queues are quite large, and, as already mentioned, they can spend several hours in them, if not lucky. A single ticket to visit the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums is valid the whole day from the time of purchase and until the closure of museums. A full "adult" ticket costs 16 euros. Experienced travelers recommend booking tickets online and getting a voucher for their purchase. The price of this service is 4 euros, but both time and nerves will be saved. For students and students who presented international documents confirming their status, the ticket will cost 4 euros, and all the rest at the age of 6 to 18 years - at 8 euros.

How do you know all the sights the Vatican is rich in? The museum is most interesting to visit, renting for 7 euro an audio guide with more than 400 mp3-files.

Reviews of the Vatican Museums

Those who were lucky enough to see the various expositions presented in the Vatican museums, almost unanimously say that the impressions were only positive. But most tourists notice that one day to get acquainted with the vast collections of the Roman Catholic Church is clearly not enough. In addition, travelers also note that it is best to plan a visit to this museum complex for the autumn period, when the tourist flow is significantly reduced.