Vatican Museums Musei Vaticani

Michelangelo began work on the large fresco on the altar wall in 1534, in the reign of Pope Paul III, when he was 59. As a counterpart to his depiction of the Creation on the ceiling he painted on this wall the final scene in the story of the world, the Last Judgment, depicting Christ returning as the Judge to summon the righteous to paradise and consign the damned to hell. The theme in all its details is based on the scriptural account. With its dramatic presentation of his subject, which Michelangelo sees as a judgment on the life of the individual human being, this ranks as one of the greatest achievements of European painting.

The frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were painted by Michelangelo in the reign of the great Pope and Renaissance prince Julius II, most of them being his own unaided work. They were painted between the autumn of 1508 and August 1510 and, after a pause, completed in 1511-12. Michelangelo's idea was an ambitious one, never attempted on such a scale before; no less than to depict the Creation as it is described in Genesis.

The central part of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (beginning at the near end) depicts God separating light from darkness, creating the sun and the moon, separating land and sea, creating Adam and then Eve; the Fall; Noah's thanks-offering; the Flood; Noah's drunkenness. In the lower ranges of the vaulting are colossal figures of the prophets and sibyls who conveyed God's message to the Jews and the Gentiles.

The restoration of the chapel has revealed an unexpected luminosity of color in Michelangelo's frescoes, which caused controversy about the restoration process, even though the intensive use of color is consistent with the traditions of the Florentine school. The restorers only removed dirt and later repainting to reach the protective top layer of paint applied in Michelangelo's fresco technique. The colors which they revealed are bright and intensive tones of blue, green, ochre, red and white. The figures are all depicted in vigorous and passionate movement.

Pope Paul VI (1963-78) was interested in modern religious art and made available 55 rooms in the Vatican for the display of works of art presented to the Popes or acquired by them. The collection contains more than 800 works by artists of many different countries, including Rodin, Barlach, Matisse, Modigliani, Kokoschka, Dali, Munch, Vlaminck, Feininger, Ernst Beckmann, Nolde, Le Corbusier, Kadinsky, de Chirico, Greco, Marini, Rouault, Hartung, Hansing and Sutherland.

The Egyptian Museum in the Cortile della Pigna, re-founded by Pope Gregory XVI (the first collection having been assembled by Pius VIII), contains a small but valuable collection of Egyptian art from the third millennium to the sixth century B.C., including basalt and wooden sarcophagi, heads of gods and pharaohs, mummified heads, stelae, statues of gods and animals, and papyri.

Among the significant works in the Museo Pio Clementino are: Sala Rotonda: Zeus of Otricoli, a copy of a work by Bryaxis (fourth century B.C.). Sala delle Muse: Belvedere Torso, a work by Apollonius of Athens (first century B.C.) which was admired by Michelangelo; statues of Apollo and the Muses.

Gabinetto delle Maschere (Cabinet of Masks): mosaic paving of theatrical masks from the Villa Adriana (see Tivoli); Cnidian Venus, a Roman copy of the Aphrodite of Praxiteles (fourth century B.C.).

Cortile del Belvedere: the most famous statues in the Vatican - the Apollo Belvedere (Roman copy of an original by Leochares c. 330 B.C.).

Beyond the Map Gallery (when coming from the Vatican palace) is the gallery of Cadelabras and Tapestries, with valuable tapestries of the 15th-17th centuries and Roman marble candelabras.

In the Last Judgment Christ is depicted as a powerful youthful god standing on a cloud, surrounded by the Virgin, the Apostles and other saints. The righteous (to the left) rising up into heaven, and the damned (on the right) tumbling into hell form a powerful upward and downward movement which determines the eternal fate of mankind, while below the dead are seen rising from their graves. In the middle are angels blowing their trumpets to summon all men to judgment, and up above other angels carry in triumph the instruments of the Passion. The 381 figures are represented with athletic forms, and many of them have readily recognizable attributes (Peter with his key, Sebastian with his arrows, Lawrence with his gridiron, Bartholomew with his flayed skin, which bears a portrait of Michelangelo himself, Catherine with her wheel).

The left-hand wall of the Sistine Chapel has scenes from the life of Moses, liberator of the Jewish people from their captivity in Egypt; the circumcision of Moses; Moses with the shepherds and the burning bush; the crossing of the Red Sea; Moses receiving the tablets of the law on Mount Sinai; the destruction of the company of Korah; and the death of Moses.

The Map Gallery, 120m/395ft long, has maps of all the different parts of Italy, often with views of cities and prospects of scenery (1580-83). The maps, originating from the studio of Antonio Dantes, contain valuable cartographical detail and were designed to be used as decoration for a palace.

Objects brought back from the various mission fields of the Church were originally (from 1927 onwards) displayed in the Palazzo Laterno. Pope Pius XI directed that they should be brought together in a systematic arrangement, and in 1970 all material of interest (to scholars as well as to the general public) was transferred to the Museo Missionario Etnologico.

The Museo Pio Cristino, founded by Pope Pius IX in 1854, contains material which until 1963 was housed in the Lateran Palace. There are two sections, one devoted to architecture, sculpture and mosaics, the other to inscriptions.

The Museo Profano has a collection of secular art which includes a variety of Etruscan, Roman and medieval material.

The coach museum, opened in 1973, is housed in a building under the Giardino Quadrato (Square Garden), near the Pinacoteca. The museum contains the Papal carriages (including the coach of Pope Leo XII), vintage cars and a model of the jet in which Pope Paul VI flew to the UN.

At the end of the long range housing the Vatican Library is the Museum of Sacred Art, containing material found during the excavation of catacombs and early Christian churches in Rome and the surrounding area. Pope Pius XI (1922-39) showed a particular interest in the smaller works of Christian art. In a side room is the "Aldobrandini Wedding" (Nozze Aldobrandine), a sensitively painted and well-preserved ancient fresco which was found about 1600 and until 1818 was kept in the Aldobrandini Gardens.

The side walls of the Sistine Chapel are covered with large frescoes painted for Sixtus IV (1481-83) by the most celebrated painters of the day - Perugino, Botticelli, Rosselli, Pinturicchio, Signorelli and Ghirlandaio - depicting Biblical scenes against the background of the Umbrian and Tuscan scenery familiar to the artists.

These late 15th century paintings already reflect the discovery of man as an individual and his importance in the historical process, and with consummate artistic skill depict him acting within an architectural and landscape setting, thus preparing the way for the further development of this trend by Michelangelo.

Vatican Museums Picture Gallery Room I: medieval art (Byzantine, Sienese, Umbrian and Tuscan), including a liturgical vestment (pluviale) which belonged to Pope Boniface VIII (13th century).

Vatican Museums Picture Gallery Room IX: "St Jerome", an unfinished work by Leonardo da Vinci. Room X: "Madonna" by Titian. Room XII: "Entombment" by Caravaggio. Room XIV: Dutch and Flemish masters (school of Rubens). Room XV: portraits of Popes.

Vatican Museums Picture Gallery Room VIII: tapestries from cartoons by Raphael, and Raphael's famous "Transfiguration" (1517; his last picture) and "Madonna of Foligno" (1512-13).

Vatican Museums Picture Gallery Room II: triptych of Cardinal Stefaneschi (Giotto). Room III: "Madonna" and "St Nicholas of Bari" by Fra Angelico; triptych by Filippo Lippo. Room V: "Pietà" by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Room VII: "Coronation of the Virgin" by Pinturicchio; "Madonna" by Perugino.

The right-hand wall of the Sistine Chapel depicts events in the life of Christ, the liberator of mankind from sin - his baptism in the Jordan; the cleansing of lepers (a magnificent work by Botticelli); the calling of Peter and Andrew; the Sermon on the Mount; Christ giving the keys to Peter; and the Last Supper.

Among the significant statues in the Museo Pio Clementino are: Sala degli Animali: numerous realistic marble and alabaster statues of animals; statue of Meleager with a dog and a wild boar's head (Roman copy), and Minotaur bust. Galleria delle Statue: Apollo Sauroctonus (Apollo the Lizard Killer; Roman copy of a bronze original by Praxiteles); the reclining figure of Ariadne; the Candelabri Barberini (the finest ancient candelabras known), from the Villa Adriana at Tivoli. Galleria dei Busti: lunette frescoes by Pinturicchio; statue of Jupiter Verospi. Canova's Perseus, a Hermes of the Hadrianic period (copy of an original by Praxiteles) and above all the celebrated Laocoön group, a masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture (at the finding of which in 1506 Michelangelo was present), depicting the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons in a mortal struggle with two huge snakes. Gabinetto del Apoxyomenos: the Athlete Apoxyomenos, a copy of a bronze statue by Lysippus, found in Trastevere in 1849.