The Last Judgement - photo from Wikipedia
We’d booked a tour of the Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica on the advice of our travel agent in Oz, the same as we’d done for Giverny and Versailles in France. Today’s excursion was a half-day event and we were picked up at the hotel early so we had to cram as much breakfast in as possible in about 15 minutes! The little bus we were in stopped at a few hotels on the way and then we were all disgorged at the travel agent office in the middle of Rome and divided into different languages. Though we were on the English tour there were only a few English people, a trio of Irish and the rest Americans and other nationalities. We were the only Aussies. The Irish trio all wore caps and was led by a little woman who wanted to be first in line for everything - Net was irritated by her right from the start!
We drove through Rome, crossed the Tiber and onto the Vatican then piled out and went through the turnstiles towards the Sistine Chapel. The tour guide gathered us outside the chapel for a introductory talk as tour guides aren’t allowed to give talks in the chapel itself. We were all issued with headsets and earphones and our guide, a stylish, tall, olive-skinned Roman woman, who brandished a yellow flag as our identifying standard, led us through to the chapel through a long corridor decorated with all manner of art including the most amazingly realistic trompe-l’oeil we’ve ever seen. You had to convince your brain that the paintings on the ceiling and walls weren’t actually marble statues and decorations!
Strange statue on the way in to the chapel
Fresco on the corridor wall
A section of the corridor's ceiling
We were happy, even though we look blue!
When you enter the chapel you can’t help being surprised that it’s not huge as you imagined, even though I knew it wasn't enormous. It’s 40.9 metres long by 13.4 metres wide and the ceiling is 20.7 metres high. I read later in Wikipedia that: “The ceiling of the chapel is a flattened barrel vault springing from a course that encircles the walls at the level of the springing of the window arches” but I thought that was obvious just by looking at it.
The tour guide gave us 25 minutes inside the chapel, which wasn’t long enough for me, although it is very difficult to look at the ceiling frescos because your neck gets so sore - you certainly can’t lie on the floor and gaze upwards. Because of this I spent a fair proportion of the allotted time looking at The Last Judgment which is on the same wall as the entrance to the chapel. You can get up close to the damned being transported to hell by demons in row boats. The small amount of time doesn't let your eye give justice to the works of the other artists on the other walls, including Botticelli and other Florentine painters.
It’s horribly crowded in the corridor leading to the chapel and you’re herded through the chapel door and told to keep moving. There are a number of guards in uniform and one, who was very tall and stern looking, though quite young, bellowed “Silenzio!” every few minutes. The noise level would drop after that and then rise again before the next “Silenzio!” issued forth from the stern young guard. We saw many people trying to take photos, which is explicitly banned, and one silly Japanese woman took a photo with flash and was quickly escorted out of the chapel, which was a good thing; I’m not sure she knew what as happening to her until she actually got outside the chapel! I sharply, though quietly, remembering the "Silenzio!", rebuked some fool who was trying to take a photo but he kept at it after he moved away from where I was. Although tour-group leaders are banned from giving commentaries, a few were obviously doing it - I felt like dobbing them in to the stern young guard!
The dome is stupendous and more ovoid than I thought it would be, very different to the hemispherical dome of the Pantheon, which the ancient Romans built in the first century AD.
A Swiss, guarding the Pope
Everything on the tour was done quickly and our guide was very fast in her feet, even in the huge crush of people, so we were soon out in St Peters Piazza in the bright, blazing sun - it was our hottest day yet! We were shown where the Pope’s bedroom is and where he stands when addressing the 150,000 people who can fit into the piazza and then we were encouraged to buy souvenirs in the designated souvenir shop and then we waited some more time in the merciless sun until we piled onto the bus, the Irish trio got on first of course, and back to headquarters.
The Pope's bedroom is the top-right one
Net rested in the afternoon but I can never rest as I have restless legs so I took the Metro to Cavour Station and walked up to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a large church which is owned and operated by the Vatican, even though it’s in the heart of Rome. It’s impressive inside but there were hundreds of tour groups all snapping away. I had our compact camera but I kept it in my pocket because all the photo-taking made me feel a bit sick. One German tourist even tried to take a photo of a confession in progress and looked surprised and slightly put out when the priest waggled his finger at her and said “no!”
I caught the jam-packed Metro train back to the hotel and we had an excellent repast for dinner with plenty of wine. And so to bed.
Strange statue on the way in to the chapel
Fresco on the corridor wall
A section of the corridor's ceiling
We were happy, even though we look blue!
When you enter the chapel you can’t help being surprised that it’s not huge as you imagined, even though I knew it wasn't enormous. It’s 40.9 metres long by 13.4 metres wide and the ceiling is 20.7 metres high. I read later in Wikipedia that: “The ceiling of the chapel is a flattened barrel vault springing from a course that encircles the walls at the level of the springing of the window arches” but I thought that was obvious just by looking at it.
The tour guide gave us 25 minutes inside the chapel, which wasn’t long enough for me, although it is very difficult to look at the ceiling frescos because your neck gets so sore - you certainly can’t lie on the floor and gaze upwards. Because of this I spent a fair proportion of the allotted time looking at The Last Judgment which is on the same wall as the entrance to the chapel. You can get up close to the damned being transported to hell by demons in row boats. The small amount of time doesn't let your eye give justice to the works of the other artists on the other walls, including Botticelli and other Florentine painters.
It’s horribly crowded in the corridor leading to the chapel and you’re herded through the chapel door and told to keep moving. There are a number of guards in uniform and one, who was very tall and stern looking, though quite young, bellowed “Silenzio!” every few minutes. The noise level would drop after that and then rise again before the next “Silenzio!” issued forth from the stern young guard. We saw many people trying to take photos, which is explicitly banned, and one silly Japanese woman took a photo with flash and was quickly escorted out of the chapel, which was a good thing; I’m not sure she knew what as happening to her until she actually got outside the chapel! I sharply, though quietly, remembering the "Silenzio!", rebuked some fool who was trying to take a photo but he kept at it after he moved away from where I was. Although tour-group leaders are banned from giving commentaries, a few were obviously doing it - I felt like dobbing them in to the stern young guard!
Our yellow flag waved after 25 minutes and we were whisked into St Peters Basilica, which was also terribly crowded, though it’s so huge that it absorbs people much more effectively than the chapel and the corridors leading to it. St Peters is obviously very impressive, especially the statues, which are everywhere, including Michelangelo’s Pieta, which is behind a thick glass wall because of some crazed Australian citizen who smashed it with a chisel in 1972.
Another impressive feature of the church are the mosaics which look exactly like paintings - it’s only when you get up close that you see all the little tiles.
The dome is stupendous and more ovoid than I thought it would be, very different to the hemispherical dome of the Pantheon, which the ancient Romans built in the first century AD.
A Swiss, guarding the Pope
Everything on the tour was done quickly and our guide was very fast in her feet, even in the huge crush of people, so we were soon out in St Peters Piazza in the bright, blazing sun - it was our hottest day yet! We were shown where the Pope’s bedroom is and where he stands when addressing the 150,000 people who can fit into the piazza and then we were encouraged to buy souvenirs in the designated souvenir shop and then we waited some more time in the merciless sun until we piled onto the bus, the Irish trio got on first of course, and back to headquarters.
The Pope's bedroom is the top-right one
Net rested in the afternoon but I can never rest as I have restless legs so I took the Metro to Cavour Station and walked up to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a large church which is owned and operated by the Vatican, even though it’s in the heart of Rome. It’s impressive inside but there were hundreds of tour groups all snapping away. I had our compact camera but I kept it in my pocket because all the photo-taking made me feel a bit sick. One German tourist even tried to take a photo of a confession in progress and looked surprised and slightly put out when the priest waggled his finger at her and said “no!”
I caught the jam-packed Metro train back to the hotel and we had an excellent repast for dinner with plenty of wine. And so to bed.
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