The Vatican Museums
It's a little bit of a hike from St. Peter's, out around the Vatican walls, and over to the entrance to the museums.
The famous Vatican Pineapple, allegedly blown out of the top of the Pantheon. Or not.
There's also a lot of contemporary art at the Vatican. The brass globe here actually rotates a bit occasionally, its internal gears slowing grinding.
A hall of ancient statuary
A giant bowl made of Porphyry marble-- considered rare and only used for imperial work. After seeing a few similar fonts, we're pretty sure this was used as a baptistry at some point.
At the entrance to the Etruscan Museum, which was sadly closed when we visited. Note the giant Porphyry urn at the top of the frame.
The Map Room, which featured gigantic maps of European regions. We noticed that some of the maps had interesting orientation-- one map of Italy showed an upside down "boot". The ceiling was an exquisite example of trompe l'oeil art (a way of fooling the viewer's eye). In this case, what appeared to be bas relief was actually just painted on a smooth surface.
A close up of one of the maps, including Florence.
Another close-up
There's a lot of conservation and restoration going on in the galleries at the museum. In this photo, layers of paint (about a 1/4 inch) have been stripped away to reveal a beautiful fresco.
More conservation work. Why would anyone paint over these images?
Raphael's famous fresco "The School of Athens." This one was huge.
Note:We don't have any photos from the Sistine Chapel, as you're not allowed to take photos or video. Although you get a bit disoriented and/or dizzy from staring up at the ceiling, it's quite beautiful.
When we got out of the Vatican Museum, we had had just about enough crowds for one day. The quiet St. Peter's Square from the morning was now teeming with folks waiting to get in. You can see quite a packed crowd on the right side.
This mass brought to you by Telecom Italia. Screens were set up to broadcast the Easter masses.
