Vatican City

Being a great historical and formidable spiritual venture, the Vatican City is one of the most sacred places in Christendom with a unique collection of artistic and architectural masterpieces.

Being the smallest city-state in the world with less than 1000 people, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations of the world. Situated in the middle of Rome, the city has some of the world's most beautiful churches and museums.

The Phrygian goddess Cybele is worshipped in this place. This great historical city is the governmental capital of the Catholic Church ruled by the Pope, the Bishop of Rome.

Location
The Vatican city-state is situated in Europe in the middle of the Rome city, sprawling over a hill west of the River Tiber. The area of Vatican City is around 0.44 sq km (0.17 sq miles). It is in low hill between 19 m and 75 m of the above sea level.

Nearby Attractions:

Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel is the Pope’s domestic Chapel. It is famous for its architecture, decoration Michelangelo art. The building is roofed with pan tile tiles. The diagram of Sistine Chapel comprises of the pictorial fresco decoration and a set of tapestries. Its interior is decorated with designs that are very marvelous with luminous colors. Built between 1473 and 1484 by Pope Sixtus IV, this Chapel has a hall which is a high rectangular brick building of 40.4m/133 ft long, 20.7m/68ft wide and 13.2m/43ft high with large wall and ceiling surfaces.

The internal spaces are divided into three storeys of which the lowest has a robustly vaulted basement with several utilitarian windows and a doorway giving onto the exterior court. The ceiling is commissioned by Pope Julius II and painted by world famous Michelangelo. The Chapel has the depictions about the world being created by God, Mankind's fall from God's Grace, and God sending Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind. The wall paintings were mainly by Perugin, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Rossellini, and Signorelli. The subject depended on historical religious themes, selected and divided according to the medieval concept of the partition of the world history into three epochs:

Before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses
Between Moses and Christ's birth
The Christian era thereafter.

They underline the continuity between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, or the transition from the Mosaic Law to the Christian religion. The present chapel, on the site of the Cappella Maggiore, was designed by Baccio Pontelli for Pope Sixtus IV under the supervision of Giovannino de Dolci. After its completion, the Chapel was decorated with frescoes by famous artists including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino.

The first Mass in the Sistine Chapel was celebrated on August 9, 1483 at the ceremony called the Feast of the Assumption. On this day, the Chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the Pope’s death, his successors were elected from this place and it is continued even today. On religious functionary activities like the Christmas Day and the Easter masses, a large congregation will be assembled in this place. The Sistine Chapel is a Chapel in the Apostolic Palace and it is in this place, the most famous music of Allegri’s Misererea, a setting of the psalm for Maundy Thursday is sung by the permanent choir.

Vatican Palace
The Vatican Palace is one of the world’s most historical and artistic Palaces. The Vatican Palace is also called as the Apostolic Palace, the Papal Palace. It lies immediately to the right of St Peter’s Square. It has the best architects in Rome. It was the residence of the Palazzo Laterano. The first Pope resident of this palace was Nicholas III (1277-80). After 1450, Pope Successors embellished and enlarged the Vatican Palace. It also includes Pope's own residential apartments, offices, a number of ecclesiastical bodies, and a Vatican library apart from the Vatican Museums.

Saint Peter's Basilica
Saint Peter’s Basilica is the largest Basilica in the world. It was built in 1506 over the remains of St. Peter’s tomb. In 1547, Michelangelo simplified the Bram ante’s previous plan. After Michelangelo’s death in 1954, one of his students, Giacomo della Porta, looked after the erection of the Dome following the master’s design. The spectacular monuments from Bernini, Michelangelo and many other great architects are very admirable in Basilica. Saint Peter's Square, or Saint Peter's Piazza is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica. The open space which lies before the Basilica was redesigned by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, between 1656 and 1667, under the direction of Pope Alexander VII.

Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums are the largest and the greatest art and sculpture museums in the world. They are situated in the exquisite Vatican Palace and have an astonishing collection of arts and artifacts of the Roman Catholic Church. The collection also includes the beautiful wall painting which says that no trip to Rome is incomplete without visiting the Vatican Museums. There are 12 large complexes of 1300 rooms requiring any tourist to make several trips!  The important museums in the Vatican Palace complex are as follows.

The Egyptian Museum
The Pio-Clementino Museum
The Octagonal Courtyard
The Chiaramonti Museum
The Hall of the Muses
The Gregorian Etruscan Museum
The Vatican Historical Museum
The Carriage Museum
The Gallery of the Candelabra
The Gallery of Tapestries
The Inscription Gallery
The Gallery of Modern Religious Art

The Etruscan Museum includes 18 rooms of Etruscan artifacts and Greek statuary, the Egyptian Museum has the statues brought from Egypt in the imperial age, the Tapestry Gallery is filled with tapestries by Raphael’s school.