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12 Settembre 2003...SistineLand |
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by Whitney Stoffel / 07.12.2004 |
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Itinerary |
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| Sistine Ceiling |
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| The Last Judgement (Michaelangelo) |
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| The Vatican Courtyard |
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Class convened in the Campo at nine, and trekked across town to the Holiest place on earth...the Vatican City. Having already seen St. Peter's Basilica and the Necropolis below, the Vatican Museum was the destination for our return trip.
The street leading to the Vatican is lined with souvenir stands, selling a whole array of cheesy Christian keepsakes. Some of my personal favorites included the Pope bottle opener, 3-D pictures of the Savior, and the animated nativity scene with baby Jesus doing crunches in the manger. I desperately searched for a John Paul action figure, but apparently the toy company is still working out the marketing details.
Reaching the Vatican, we joined the throngs of tour groups around the backside of the complex, and waited in line fifteen minutes before reaching the doors to the Museum. Once inside the threshold, everyone was dumbfounded by the rigorous security checkpoint just to get into the art museum...reminded us all of the airport. I had to walk through the metal detector three times before they were satisfied that my belt buckle was the culprit. Inside, Shawn purchased the group ticket, and we were set free to explore the holy relics on our own.
The first section of the museum was definately my favorite, though it had nothing to do with Christianity. The collection of ancient Egyptian relics seemed out of place at the Vatican, but were captivating none the less. There were beautiful carved stone and wood sarcophagi, turquoise scarabs, and embalming jars carved of alabaster...all over four thousand years old. The most intriguing artifact was a perfectly preserved mummified woman from the tenth century B.C. It really put into perspective how much older the ancient civilization of Egypt was than the Roman antiquity we have been touring the last three weeks.
The next major section of the Vatican Museum was the immense sculptor collection which spanned the ages of Roman domination. In the first few rooms were statues from Egypt and Greece which had been seized by early Emperors to decorate their gardens. These included many pieces excavated from Hadrian's Villa, which I really enjoyed since we visited the ruined palace the day before.
Next was an enormous hall of sculptures. Most were from the first to fourth century, and depicted Greek Gods and Roman nobles. The girls I was browsing with kept comparing the size of the men's maple leaves...I tried to remain oblivious of the analysis. Having already spent nearly two hours in the museum, we were antsy to see the important works, and pressed onwards.
Tricky Catholics have the museum rigged so you must weave your way through the entire maze of rooms before emerging in the Sistine chapel. The next several rooms of sculpture, paintings, maps, and tapestries became a blur as we elbowed our way through the herds of tour groups. It was eerily reminiscent of waiting in line at Disneyland. All these side attractions were merely a ploy to keep the masses distracted while waiting in the never ending line. At the pivotal fork in the road (one directly to the Sistine Chapel and the other longer route through Raphael's frescoed rooms) we chose the easy exit, and headed straight for Michaelangelo's masterpiece...vowing a return trip to see Raphael. After packing through another maze of hallways, we reached a narrow stairway which announced our approach into the chapel over a loudspeaker. We descended the stairs, turned a corner, and emerged into a swarm of tourists stairing heavenly at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
The scene was a circus...definately not the environment to enjoy famous masterpieces of art. Hundreds of people filled the small room, noisily chatting against the incessant "Ssshhhhhhhh" of the guards. The loudspeaker chimed again, and "kindly requested" everyone to remain silent in five different languages. Ironically the announcement was three times louder than the whole room of people. I gazed at Michaelangelo's masterpiece of Genesis for several minutes, mesmerized by the size of the work and the immaculate detail of the figures. Having read the "Agony and the Ecstasy" earlier in the trip, seeing what took the master four years to paint was remarkable. It was too bad the setting of the work had been transformed into a tourist firetrap. Having endured the crowds long enough, we were eager to get some fresh air, and snuck out the unauthorized exit.
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Highlights |
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The highlight of the day was the much needed trip to the laundromat...Suds and Scrub...after class. Some of my clothes hadn't been washed since my arrival from Asia three weeks ago, and were quite rank. The soothing sound of clothes tumbling softly in the drier was a mesmerizing relief from the chaos of the Vatican. Even in the Eternal city it is the simple things which bring the most joy in life.
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Images |
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The first two images depict Michaelangelo's masterpieces in the Sistine chapel. Although the ceiling depiction of Genesis is the main attraction, I found the painting of the Last Judgement had a greater emotional impact on myself. The figures were so lifelike and real, it was easy to see why Michaelangelo was a master of his time. It was awesome to see the expanse of the paintings in real life, but the jam packed full room made it nearly impossible to enjoy the gallery.
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