The Vatican Museums

The origins of these museums can be traced back to 1503 , the year that the newly appointed Pope Julius II donated his private collection. Since then both individuals and other families have been growing potatoes museum collection to make it one of the largest in the world .

Currently the Vatican Museums are more than 4 million visitors a year , but certainly one of the reasons for this is that they are the gateway to the Sistine Chapel .

What’s inside museums?

• Museo Pio – Clementino : Created by Popes Clement XIV and Pius VI, the museum brings together the most important Greek works of the Vatican.
• Apartment Pius V : Work of Pope Pius V, Flemish tapestries meets the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a collection of medieval pottery and a miniature medieval mosaics.
• Gallery of the Candelabra : Statues Roman copies of Greek originals and huge chandeliers in the second century decorate this elegant gallery.
• Missionary Ethnological Museum : Works of art of all papal missions in the world, among which include objects from Tibet, Indonesia, India, Far East, Africa and America.
• Gallery cartographic maps : Made between the years 1580 and 1585, the beautiful maps frescoed on the walls of this gallery represent the Italian regions and the possessions of the church.
• Historical Museum – Hall of Floats : This section show floats, saddles, cars, and even the first locomotive of the Vatican City .
• Tapestry Gallery : Exhibition of Flemish tapestries created between 1523 and 1534.
• Pio Christian Museum : The collection consists of Christian antiquities statues, sarcophagi and archaeological remains of the sixth century.
• Pinacoteca : Through the eighteen rooms of the building of the gallery shows paintings from the Middle Ages until 1800.
• Hall and the Immaculate Sobieski : In both rooms shown canvases from the “Ottocento” Italian.
• Egyptian Museum : Among the pieces acquired by the popes are also some impressive sculptures of precious Egyptian sarcophagi of the third century BC can also see some black basalt statues (copies of Egyptian models) from the Villa Adriana .
• Etruscan Museum : This museum houses part of the elements of ceramics, bronze and gold belonging to the Etruscan civilization.
• Chiaramonti Museum : Created by Pius VII Chiaramonti, this gallery shows a thousand sculptures among which include portraits of emperors, images of gods and some monuments.
• Gregorian Profane Museum : the rooms contain Greek and Roman sculptures from the first to the third centuries AD
• Borgia Apartment : The apartment that belonged to Pope Alexander VI Borgia now serve as exhibition halls for the Collection of Modern Religious Art.
• Raphael : Raphael’s decorated with a unique taste of the apartments of Pope Julius II.
• Room of the Biga : A monumental marble figure of a chariot drawn by two horses made ​​in the first century AD fills the room giving the room name.

Avoiding queues

The queue for the Vatican Museums is probably the heaviest of Rome. To avoid it is advisable not to go on the last Sunday of every month (the day free) or at Easter . It is also advisable to avoid the weekends, especially in high season.

Our experience tells us that the best time to go is about 13:00 pm on weekdays . Most people usually agolpar first thing in the morning to avoid the queues and more often when you have to wait.