Opening the Vatican...
Description:
This tour will allow you to discover the Vatican in all its infinite diversity. We will get acquainted with history and art, symbolism and faith, politics, intrigue and internal struggle, survive the rise and fall of the great masters and the Popes of Rome and all this in the indescribable atmosphere of the palace walls of the Renaissance, where today the collection of the Vatican Museums is located. And of course, at the end of our journey through the Vatican, we will enter the heart of Western Christianity – the great and beautiful Cathedral of St. Peter.
On this tour, you will see beautiful paintings from the Pontifical Picture Gallery – Pinakothek, and learn why they remain “exiles” in the Museums to this day, feel the freedom and ease of attitude to life during the Renaissance, walking along the Beautiful Belvedere, today modestly renamed the Palace of Shishki, marvel at what political intrigues and bloody events can be hidden behind the impeccable whiteness of ancient marble and that in the sculpture of Laocoon made the Pope open the Vatican Museums for her. You will be amused by the marble zoo and seriously surprised by the symbolism of the links between Apollo, Dionysus, and the Muses, and finally you will see how the Popes will treat the symbol of imperial power and who really destroyed the Temples of Imperial Rome.
And after that, we will ascend to the Pontifical Galleries, where in the three lavish corridors of the Candelabras, Tapestry and Geographical Maps, the Popes discussed with high-ranking guests the intricacies of theology and the more mundane issues of power and influence in Europe.
Finally, we are with you at the Apostolic Palace. The fortress meets us first. Although for the beautiful frescoes dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it will not be easy to consider the severity of the Borgia Tower, and then we will move on to the Pope's apartment, painted by Raphael. The brilliant artist conquers both color and technique. How deep is his plan! Did he himself create these subjects with such subtle symbolism, or is there a figure behind it that has remained in the shadows for centuries? And then we go down the floor and leave the flow of visitors to turn into an almost imperceptible passageway. And we're in the Borgia Apartments! The evil genius of the insidiousness of the great poisoner did not stop even before the sacred secret of art. Unashamed Pope Borgia demanded from the artist Pinturicchio that he give the Madonnas the features of his mistresses.
And finally, the Sistine Chapel. Even if you only saw her, you would still see the cosmos - so majestic and beautiful. And Michelangelo! It was as if he was challenging God, whose image he painted on the ceiling, because man, the best of divine creations, is not capable of such a thing, and he, Michelangelo, could!
Descending from the Sistine Chapel along the Royal Staircase, we will find ourselves in the walls of the bright and solemn St. Peter’s Cathedral and finish our acquaintance with the Vatican in the square in front of it.
We will see: Pinacoteca, the Courtyard of Shishka, the Pio-Clementino Sculpture Museum, the Tapestry Gallery, Geographic Maps, the Candelabras, the Hall of the Immaculate Conception, the Raphael Stanzas, the Borgia Apartments, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Cathedral.