The Vatican

Tuesday. June 17, 2025

On June 6th we finished our site-seeing at Vatican City: Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Cathedral, St Peter’s Square. 

St Peter’s Square with St Peter’s Cathedral on the left, the Vatican Obelisk in the center, and the papal residence on the upper right. It is said that this obelisk saw the martyrdom of Peter. 

Did you know that Vatican City is its own country — the smallest independent nation-state in the world?

Did you know that it is not part of the European Union? While it is considered an enclave of Rome, it’s governed by the “Lateran Treaty” and not by the EU. 

Do you know how big The Vatican is? It is 121 acres or 0.44 sq km. Bill could walk its perimeter in about 45 minutes.

How many citizens live in Vatican City? Just a little over 800. But no one is a permanent citizen of this country for two reasons: no one can be born there (they must be born elsewhere like in Rome) and once the people who work there complete their service, they have to leave and their citizenship is stripped. 

Did you know that the Vatican owns a telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona where they conduct research?

It has no hospital, no prison and has the highest wine consumption per capita in the world—not that these are related. It also has the highest crime rate per capita thanks to all the “tourists” who make their living by purse-snatching and pick-pocketing. 

Here we are outside of the Vatican wall. Once we go through security we’ll be in the Vatican Museum of Art and Maps. 

This is a tapestry. 

This is in the Hall of Maps.

Michelangelo’s Pietà (marble sculpture of Mary holding Jesus after his death) is in St. Peter’s Basilica. 

St Peter’s Basilica is massive. It is the largest church building in the world. 

Constantine the Great had the original St. Peter’s church built in the fourth century. According to tradition, Peter was buried under its grand altar. From 1506-1626 the current basilica was built over the original one, making sure the altar was directly over Peter’s burial site.

This is Pope John XXIII who was exhumed in 2001. His face, hands and feet are now wax. He lies in a crystal coffin. 

This is the mummified body of Pope St. Pius X who served from 1903-1914. His face and hands are covered in silver. 

At the Altar of the Transfiguration we found Raphael’s painting — or did we? In an effort to protect the priceless painting from loss in a fire, it was removed to a museum and this mosaic reproduction was put in its place. Yes, this is made of something like 5 million tiny tiles. 

The dome of St. Peter’s Basilica is the second tallest building in the urban area of Rome. It is amazing. 

I am so glad we were able to visit all of these places in Rome. But we were all exhausted. It was a busy two days!

LORD, I am amazed at the magnificence of the Vatican. It’s hard to imagine that people had the vision and the ingenuity to create such a place. Yet you have prepared a place for us that will be more beautiful than anything on earth. Thank you. 

Sistine Chapel

Monday, June 16, 2025

In my estimation the Sistine Chapel should have a subtitle, “The Michelangelo Museum of Art.” When you first walk in, it is overwhelming to see all the frescoes on the walls. There isn’t one inch, I don’t think, without a major painting. 

Unfortunately we shared the room with about 500 other people and our time was limited. So it was hard to take it all in. 

First, the room is smaller than I expected. 

Second, we were not allowed to take any pictures (Patrick).

Third, it was visual overload. When I list all the paintings just on the ceiling of the room, you’ll get the idea. 

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So here’s a story about the wall behind the altar. The Pope commissioned Michelangelo to paint the wall and to make it his own. So he did. He portrayed the Final Judgement with some people going into heaven and others passing the gatekeeper into hell. 

When the work was nearing completion, this one dude came with the Pope to check on things and he made it known right away that he was not a fan. The artist, who loved to paint the muscles and shapes of the human body, had left clothing off of just about everybody. This dude insisted that Michelangelo rectify the situation. 

Later during the “grand opening,” the dude was shocked to find that not only had the artist not clothed anybody, he had replaced the face of hell’s gatekeeper with his (the dude’s) own. 

That didn’t go over well and he insisted that the Pope do something about it. I think the Pope was somewhat amused by the prank and he told the offended dude that hell was not in his jurisdiction so he basically had to get over it. 

I loved hearing back-stories like this. 

On to the other works of art. 

In the room, other artists besides Michelangelo have some of their works. Leonardo di Vinci has one fresco that he did in 1480. Raphael has four frescoes dating back to 1514-1520. And a handful of other artists each have one piece. 

Michelangelo painted the Final Judgement on the wall behind the altar. Then he painted the arched ceiling. Contrary to popular belief, he did not paint while lying down on scaffolding. There is a journal where he sketched himself standing with his head back. In the margin is a poem about the discomfort experienced while standing for such a long time each day with his neck craned back and his body aching. 

I’ve tried to count all the frescoes on the ceiling. I’ve come up with 58 different ones. 

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This is a busy graphic. Down the center of the ceiling from right (above the altar) to left are 9 works:

• 3 show the world’s creation 
• 3 show the creation and fall of Adam and Eve
• 3 show Noah and the great flood 

Bordering the rectangle are:

• 7 prophets
• 5 sibyls (female seers)

At the corners are 4 depictions of God defeating various villains. 

Above the arched windows are ancestors of Jesus — 33 of them. 

Michelangelo completed these works between 1509 and 1512. 

LORD, It is hard to imagine how difficult it would have been for one man to accomplish these major works of art so long ago. Thank you for the opportunity to see them first hand. Thank you for the work of art you created in each of us. We are uniquely yours.