Anyway, I arrived at the Vatican, and headed around its outer wall to the northernmost part. This is where the entrance to the museum is, so I did not quite make it that far. Instead I joined the very...very long line for admission. Rumor has it you can book a ticket online for a specific time, and the skip the queue. I was not on the ball with this so cannot confirm, but I recommend checking if you plan to go. It is a very long line. But, luckily for me, I had nothing else planned for the day.
I did not time the wait, but I know it was more than an hour, though I suspect it was less then two. Regardless, I made it to the entrance without issue and proceeded through security. It was then a bit of a maze to find the ticket office, and the entrance to the actual exhibits. But, again... I found my way their without too much trouble.
Before discussing what I saw I will give some overall views. First... the museum has enough sculptures to decorate a moderately sized country. As for the building itself, much like the Louvre, it could belong in a museum itself. While the exhibits were all beautiful, some of my favorite things to do were watch the ceilings and the floors. The ceilings in just about every room were decorated by a series of planners of individual paintings. Meanwhile, the floor in room after room was an intricate mosaic. Really, the building was pretty cool.
However... you need to make sure you have LOTS of energy when you visit, as the entire time in the museum is spent either fighting through crowds to see an exhibit, or hosteling with the crowd as you try to push into the next room. The entire thing (barring a few side rooms) is just a solid flow of people all pushing towards the Sistine Chapel. I think I would have liked to have known just how crowded it was beforehand, as it defiantly was frustrating to deal with and not be aware of.
So yeah... beautiful, but really crowded. So, my first stop was a loop around a courtyard that is in the center(?) of the museum. This courtyard seemed mostly dedicated to where tour guides could talk about the Sistine Chapel before dealing with the crowds and noise inside. So, as I walked around the courtyard there were very few things to see. In the front and center there was a small fountain with a few nice statues around it. My favorites were, of course, the egyptian carved cats. In the center there was a large booze spinning glide-like thing. But, I have no idea what it was about. Around the sides of the courtyard (where all the tour groups were) were a series of pictures on a stand. The pictures were of various different parts of the Sistine Chapel, and the groups were discussing them. I stopped...and listened to different groups for a while, and then moved on inside.
The first exhibit was Ancient Greece and Rome. This was predominantly sculptures of people. The first room was really a hallway that was mostly the sculptures of heads... in a way that was a bit creepy... but if you don't think about that it was pretty fantastic. At the end of the hallway I turned into the next room that had more... completed structures. That said, the next room was I think my favorite room. The room itself had a light blue and white theme in terms of color, and the floor had multiple sections of large white and black mosaics. I thought the room was absolutely amazing. I also noticed in the various greek and roman rooms that snakes continued to appear in the carvings. What the significance of the snake is/was I do not know, but thought it was interesting.
Greek and roman works continued for a few rooms following. Much of this was more sculptures, but the other prominent type of object was baths. There were a lot of tubs. And they were really big... and really fancy. But, for the most part this section continued to be filled with ornately carved pieces of stone.
Next, I went into the Egyptian exhibit. In contrast to the Greeks and the romans, most of the egyptian sculptures were of animals; not people. I will admit, I was a fan of these... and yes... that is very much because of the placement held by cats in Egyptian culture. I do so love cats and I believe the Egyptians did a good job portraying rose feelings. Second to the cats are the scarabs, which I have always thought were cool. I also liked how so many of the egyptian carvings are made of black stone, which I think is very elegant to say the least.
The next gallery was on Etrusian Italic Antiques... I think... but in short, and simpler terms... vases. A lot of vases. And, if you are like me and have always stereotyped ancient greek vases to be black painted clay with pictures in light brown or tan...this was the section for you. There were simply case after case of vases, of more shapes then I ever knew they could come it. It reminded me of the disney movie 'Hercules', where so many of the songs are told by a story on pots... just like these.
The few galleries were all of paintings. The first of these was geographical. This was, in my opinion, the most impressive of the galleries. It was helped by the exceedingly long and straight room, with an ornately carved and painted ceiling... but the room itself was just filled with giant, painted, canvases of maps. Since I like maps... this was cool. The next gallery (galleries) was a progression of art through the ages. This might have been more interesting had I known more about art history... but I don't. I could and did still appreciate their impressive size and intricate work, but that was all I could do. The last gallery was on contemporary art. I don't like contemporary art at all. I didn't before... I still don't. Luckily, I passed through here quickly.
And from there entered into the Sistine Chapel. This is a very impressive room, despite being a bit dark and ridiculously overcrowded. The ceiling and wall...so beautiful. I rarely get more out of a painting than, "this is nice", but this did. For one of the few times in my life I could actually see what was being depicted without that depiction being the actual scene. In this case I could see what sections represented earth, heaven and hell. Aside from the sheer size and wonder at how you paint a ceiling and wall like this, the work all seems flawless to the dot. Its just stunning, and well worth all the hustle, bustle and jostling it took to get there.
And so, the Chapel concluded my time at the, museum. The rest of my day consisted of a bit of a disaster of a walk back (in terms of efficient directions). But, on the way I did pick up a few little trinkets I'd been meaning to. Then, I got back to the hostel and had dinner. Post dinner, I checked up on times and costs for the bus to the airport, and worked on packing up my stuff. That, in fact, I am going to go finish right now, before heading to bed.
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