- The Vatican Museums are the Museums of the Vatican City in Rome and contain tens of thousands of art works collected by the Papacy and the Catholic Church for over 1,000 years.
- The Museums hold some of the most famous Roman Sculptures and Renaissance art works.
Getting There
- Location: Piazza San Pietro, Rome.
- Nearest Metro Station: Ottaviano, Line A, then Bus 982.
The Collection
- The Museums contain 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display.
- The collection includes Roman Art and Renaissance Art.
- The Museums include the Sistine Chapel with its ceiling frescoes painted by Michelangelo and the four Raphael rooms with frescoes by Raphael.
Famous Roman Sculptures
- Prima Porta Augustus (c.20 CE)
- Displayed in the Braccio Nuovo wing of the Museums, is the ‘Augusta of Primaporta’, a lifesize white marble statue of Augustus.
- Laocoon and his sons
- Pliny the Elder attributed the Work to three artists from Rhodes, Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus. Agesander. Today, the Work is considered to be a 1st century CE copy of a Bronze original from the 2nd century BCE.
- Belvedere Apollo
- A 2nd century CE marble sculpture of Apollo made in a Hellenistic style.
Other Museums of Rome
- Capitoline Museums
- The Capitoline Museums are a Group of Art and Archeological Museums on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome. There are three main buildings all connected by an underground gallery.
- National Roman Museum
- The National Roman Museum has four locations in the city of Rome and is dedicated to the history of Ancient Rome: the Palazzo Massimo alle terme, the Palazzo Altemps, the Crypta Balbi and the Baths of Diocletian.
Photo and map: Vatican Museums, Rome