Vatican Treasures Small Group Tour

Then, you will move to the rooms painted by Pinturicchio and commissioned by the Spanish Pope Alexander VI Borgia: the Borgia Apartment. These are inside the oldest section of the Apostolic Palace and its main rooms conserve a collection of contemporary and modern works of art.

Finally, you will reach the modern and contemporary art galleries. These galleries exist thanks to the numerous donations made for Pope Paul VI, who called back to the Church the modern and contemporary artists recreating the link between art and church during a speech in the Sistine Chapel. Among the many famous artworks, you will admire Matisse's, Chagall's, Dalì's, and Bacon 's ones.

Then, you will enter Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel with the Frescoes painted in the 1500s for the Pope Julius II and Paul III; Michelangelo first painted the Ceiling where he represented the Creation of the World, from the Genesis book, and stories of Noah’s life. The Renaissance “Genius” when he was 61 years old he will come back to paint in five years only Last Judgement on the wall behind the altar.

Finally, you will admire St. Peter's Basilica, which was built from 1506 and it has replaced the Medieval Basilica built under Emperor Constantine. The Basilica was built in 120 years by many architects including Raphael and Michelangelo. The inside decoration of the Basilica is very Baroque thanks to the “Genius of the Baroque Gian Lorenzo Bernini who projected the “Altar of the Chair of St. Peter” and the Baldachin. Inside the Basilica there is a beautiful chapel where is preserved the Michelangelo’s Pieta. The artists represent this painful moment with the body of Jesus laying on the laps of his mother after the deposition from the Cross.