Ciao tutti! Today was Vatican City and pleased my Catholic
sensibilities immensely. We had to
have everything packed up and downstairs before we left, so that was fun. And
when we finally left, we had to walk all the way to the Vatican, which wouldn’t
have been too bad, but I wore shoes that were not made for walking long distances over cobblestones. Therefore,
my feet did this throbbing thing that I would not recommend.
But – at last! – we made our way into the Musei Vaticani, a
series of different museums that are filled with paintings, sculpture,
tapestries, and the crowning glory of the Sistine Chapel. I have some pictures
of everything except the Sistine Chapel because, obviously, people are not
allowed to take photos in there. If they were, there would be mass chaos and a
free light show.
Caravaggio's The Entombment of Christ
Interesting facts about the Musei Vaticani:
- It has been voted worst tourist attraction in terms of accessibility, probably due to the fact that it was intended as a residence, not a museum.
- Martin Luther freaked out when he visited and saw the School of Athens because it was straight across from the religious mosaic, in his eyes, equating religion with philosophy.
- Also, Raphael painted the School of Athens, saw Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, and then went back, tore out a chunk of the painting, and put Michelangelo in the front. He’s the one in purple who is writing a letter and brooding in the foreground.
Brooding...brooding...
- There is a hall of maps that are painted on the walls, and are divided into east and west down the middle of the hall, and into different sections of Italy. On the ceiling are painted miracles that happened in the region. We found Arezzo, the town we’ll be staying in after traveling.
After going through the Musei Vaticani, we ended up in St.
Peter’s Basilica and saw La Pieta.
Gorgeous, isn’t it?
I actually had to write a formal analysis on it, so I hope
that I did well. After that we just walked around inside for a while and then
ran out to grab a quick lunch (pizza (I said this would a theme)) and meet in
front of the obelisk for out tour of Le Scavi!
Le Scavi tour is basically a personal tour by a scholar
studying at the Vatican of the catacombs under St. Peter’s. No pictures, but
let me give you a quick run down. We got a quick history of the area, starting
with it being the Circus of Nero. The obelisk would have actually been in the
center of the circus and was moved later by one of the popes to its current
location. Then Peter gets crucified upside in the circus in 67 AD. The
assumption is that he was also buried extremely close, because the rites of the
time meant that after death, one had to buried as quickly as possible. A little
monument was built there soon after.
Now, around this monuments are catacombs, which would have
been open at the time. So in the Necropolis you can see a lot of people who
were buried there, both Christians and Gentiles. Gentiles were cremated and
their tombs were marked D.M. (in the hands of the gods)
and Christians were simply buried with their tombs marked D.P. (in the hands of God awaiting the resurrection).
(Side Note: All the bodies and containers of ash that were
found during excavation were reburied respectfully. The tour guide pointed out
that regardless of belief system, all the dead should be honored.)
Later, Constantine built a church there in the 300’s for the
Christians. Even later, a pope got rid of that church and built a medieval
church on top of that. Finally, Pope Julius II decides to revamp the church
once more, and we end up with the church we have today, the Renaissance church.
Basically, St. Peter’s Basilica is like those Russian dolls, so when the Pope
decided to excavate under the church in the late 1930’s, they found remnants of
these older churches. Going deep enough, they found the original monument to
Peter and a wooden box with bones inside. The only thing that can be positively
determined is that they are the bones of a 60-70 year old man. Due to
contamination during the original excavation, their age cannot be determined
through carbon dating, making it, so far, impossible to say without a doubt
that they are bones of a man from the 1st century AD. Pretty cool
stuff, huh?
So after all this awesomeness, we hopped on a bus for about
3 ½ or 4 hours and traveled to Florence, where we will remain for the next few
days. Got some lasagna for dinner (SO GOOD) and some gelato (of course) and
then came back upstairs to write our papers that are due at the end of each
city we visit. Wish me good luck on getting good grades!
Favorite Moments of the Day:
- The tour guide for Le Scavi tour asked who Lucifer was. Everyone immediately says “The Devil!” He says, “Wrong!” I say, “No, Lucifer was angel and means ‘the Bringer of Light’.” And then I was right. Thank you Mom for teaching me Sunday school for all those years. It obviously has paid off.
- Making the long trek back to our hotel from the Vatican, only to see when we get there that everyone else took a taxi.
- Eating the Italian equivalent of Oreos. Not horrible, but not on par with the real deal.
- Finding a cut on my arm. I don’t know when I got it or where, so I’m going to say that I cut myself on the rocks of the Necropolis, in the catacombs of St. Peter’s. A little bit of me will remain under the Basilica now forever and ever (Just go with it, okay).
Here are some pictures as payment for the history lesson.
A dopo, tutti!
Greg and I were in Rome just a few weeks ago so it's kind of fun to read your description of it, haha. The room with the maps was my favorite part of the Vatican Museums! And we got to do the Scavi tour as well. I'm glad you're enjoying it! :)
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