Tag Archives: Vatican
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St. Peter’s

Like yesterday, first thing in the morning, we went to see a bit of Rome, but this time on the other side of the river.  We went to St. Peter’s Basilica fully expecting to see thousands of people lined up trying to get in and see the house of the richest god there ever was. […]

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St. Peter’s Basilica

The one Basilica to rule them all would be quite an understatement.  There is really nothing in this world that can prepare you for the sheer magnificence of this place, or its gigantic proportions or it’s over the top splendour.  We have seen our share of wonderful churches and cathedrals but nothing and I mean nothing comes […]

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St. Peter’s Square

St. Peter’s Square is a massive plaza located directly in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City, the papal enclave surrounded by Rome. At the centre of the square is an Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1586. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later, including the massive […]

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Sistine Chapel Contraband

The Sistine Chapel  is a large and renowned chapel of the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna, the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1477 and 1480. Since that time, the chapel has served as a place […]

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Papal Apartments

Papal Apartments – is where you start seeing the real splendour of the Vatican Museum.  If you were a Pope in the olden days you could commission Raphael to paint your apartment.  At the age of 25 Raphael was asked to do just that – scrap all the previous work done by some of the […]

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Looking Up

If a dizzying array of splendour that adorns the walls with famous paintings or tapestries or the floors done in priceless mosaics or just ordinary marble cut to perfection were not enough then perhaps the rooms and hallways and gardens lined with sculptures by every famous master from the beginning of time will impress and astonish. […]

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Sculptures

It appears that whatever is not at the Louvre or at the National Gallery in London is here.   There are a lot of priceless sculptures here and a great many of them share the same story.  No one knows how some of these 2 or 3 or 5 thousand year old sculptures found their […]

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Vatican Paintings

The first thing at the Vatican Museum that you see are the paintings.  Each more important and more famous than the last.  It appears that over the years the Popes were quite fond of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and other famous masters. There are some modern works of art here too which the Vatican […]

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