The famous Sistine Chapel in Vatican City is the Pope’s chapel. It is well known for the Renaissance art inside as well as the location where papal conclaves take place. This is the process where a new pope is selected, when the old pope dies.
Construction of the Sistine Chapel started in 1473 and the first mass was celebrated there ten years later. The measurements of this simple rectangular structure are 134 by 44 feet with its ceiling rising 68 feet. Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV to repaint the ceiling in 1508. He considered himself a sculptor and did not want to accept the commission from the Pope but knew he had to. He was afraid he was being set up to fail.
With more than 300 figures, the ceiling took four years to complete. Ironically it has become one of Michelangelo’s most well known pieces of work and is also considered by many to be his crowning achievement. Personally, I believe his statue of David in Florence is tied for this honor.
Later on in 1537, when Michelangelo was in his 60s, he was called back again to paint the wall above the altar with The Last Judgement. Again, this was against his wishes. He included his self-portrait in this work twice, which he has been known to do. Michelangelo was not the only Renaissance artist who frescoed on the chapel walls. Other notable artists included Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, and Pinturicchio.
I have had the privilege of visiting the chapel several times. After visitors work their way through the Vatican Museum, they are led outside into a one-way line into the Sistine Chapel, which is adjacent to St. Peter’s. Each time I visited, it was riddled with tourists. I had the benefit of a tour guide who explained several of the frescoes before I entered. This helped give me an area to find and focus on after entering. The details and beauty of each section of the ceiling and on the walls were so overwhelming that I didn’t know where to look first or what to look for. I think you appreciate art more when you know what you are looking at.
There are a few benches along some of the walls of the chapel, which are quickly filled by tired tourists. Basically you have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your tourist neighbor while cranking your head up trying to absorb the beauty of the ceiling that permanently damaged Michelangelo’s eyesight, as a result of the paint that dripped into his eyes while he was on his back. There is absolutely no photography allowed in the chapel, flash or otherwise. If a tourist tries to sneak one in, they are quickly reprimanded. I have seen cameras confiscated too. I was disappointed that I could not try to capture a memory of the beauty all around me.
I recently found this website which is a virtual tour of an empty Sistine Chapel. It is worth exploring and enjoying, but it does not take the place of experiencing the masterpiece firsthand, which I hope you can do someday.
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| Creation of Adam on the Sistine ceiling. Courtesy of Web Gallery of Art. |
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