Now containing over 70,000 works of art (but only displaying 20,000), Musei Vaticani, also known as the Vatican Museums, was established in 1506. In 2017, the art museum recorded 6 million visitors.
The Vatican Museums is made up of 54 galleries which leads visitors to the Sistine Chapel at the very end. It’s one of the largest museums in the world.
In each of the galleries, a unique scene is painted on the ceilings. Some including pieces of gold flakes and some that people may not comprehend just how somebody could be so talented and paint something so intricate.
One ceiling is of Byzantine architecture, which was of the Byzantine Empire. This empire was also known as the Late Roman or Eastern Roman Empire. This style of architecture was influenced by Roman and Greek architecture. The city of Byzantium was rebuilt by Constantine the Great. The city was later renamed Constantinople.
Most modern historians designate this architecture to the medieval Roman Empire period. It eventually became the primary source of the Renaissance and Ottoman architectural tradition.
The next ceiling is in the hall called the Sala della Biga (Hall of the Chariot).
The hall of designed by Giuseppe Camporese who was an architect in the 18th century.
According to the museum’s website, the works, begun in 1786, ended in 1795 with the laying of the paving, in which are visible elements of the coat of arms of Pio VI Braschi (the stars and Boreas blowing on the lilies).
In the Sala della Biga, “were collected statues and sarcophagi of athletic subject and circus, which refer to the launch of the disc, the fight, the racing of the carts in the circus. The ancient works, positioned in the niches, but also on bases and altars, are arranged around the monumental marble chariot that occupies the center of the environment.
The "Gallery of Maps" is the longest gallery in the museum. It took three years to complete 40 panels of artwork and it stretches to 363 feet long.
Pope Gregory XII commissioned Ignazio Danti in 1580 to decorate the hallway with maps of Italy.
Girolamo Muziano was one of the artists responsible for the ceiling and was the most popular of the group. He was born in Acquafredda, but spent most of his life in Rome. He was known for landscapes and he helped bring the nature of Christian faith together with the geography of Italy.
The second prominent artist responsible for the frescoes of the ceiling was Cesare Nebbia. He was an Italian painter both in Orvieto and he studied under Muziano. Nebbia was also a part of the project that is the Sistine Chapel and the Borghese Chapel.
Another work of fresco can be seen in the Sala dell’Immacolata.
In 1858, Pope Pius IX commissioned Francesco Podesti, who was the most famous Italian painter of the time, to create a series of frescoes to commemorate the establishment of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
The six octagons on the vault are painted with allegories of Faith and Theology as well as episodes from the Old Testament: The Shipwrecks with Noah’s Ark on the bottom; Giaele kills Sisara; Ester faints in front of Ahasuerus, Judith with the Head of Holofernes.
In the gallery, the wall artwork represents:
1. Discussion about Mary conceived without sin
2. Proclamation of the Dogma on 8 December 1854
3. Coronation of the effigy of the Virgin by Pius IX
4. Siblys, stories and allegorical figures
Unfortunately, not every ceiling can be perfectly traced back to its origin, but these pieces of artwork are just as important as the sculptures and tapestries in the museum.