Blog Post 8: Musei Vaticani

Sistine Chapel

Today was the Vatican Museum. Aaron showed us the way to the Sistine Chapel and then we were on our own. There were so many people at the museum that I quickly lost everyone in my group. I walked through halls of canvasses meant to cover the workers that were doing restorations. It seemed like half the museum was either closed or being restored! I walked through halls with tapestries, paintings, and many other objects that seemed like a blur. I didn't stay long in one room because of all the people. I vaguely remember practically running through the modern art exhibit (that's how much I adore modern art). I finally made it to the chapel. Everything will be alright now I thought, but walking in I was overwhelmed even more. There were so many people and so much going on with the walls my head was spinning! To make matters worst, there were guards everywhere yelling at us to be quite (just a tiny bit counter productive) and telling us pictures were forbidden. I saw one guard run over to a man to inspect the object in his hand, thinking it might be a camera. I stared at the walls and ceiling not really looking at any of it. I always saw pictures of the chapel and thought it would be so wonderful to go and see but when I finally got there, the only thing I wanted to see was an exit. There were so many people I was being nudged about to really concentrate on any of the paintings. This has been the only time on this trip where I would have proffered the pictures to the real thing. Blasphemy, I know, but it's the truth. The walls were painted for those who went to the chapel to look at and reflect on. I stared at the last judgment, picking out pieces that I had studied in my Catholic courses but nothing struck me as "awe inspiring" or "life changing". It was a picture and there were still too many people hitting up against my sides and back. I think the chapel should be revered for its wonderful artwork and I'm sure many who visit the chapel do feel something when looking at the paintings. I just didn't.

St. Jerome in the Wilderness by da Vinci
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Museums#
/media/File:Leonardo,_san_girolamo.jpg

After escaping the chapel. I wondered around a bit. I walked through the Egyptian exhibit about three times and the hall of Roman busts twice. About half the pieces had labels. I saw Laocoön and His Sons, an Etruscan gold fibula, and even the Prima Porta from a distance since the section was closed off. After a lot of wondering I found a section that had many religious paintings of saints, Jesus, and Mary. Many of the artists were from the Renaissance period and the attention to detail was incredible. I particularly liked Leonardo da Vinci's St. Jerome in Wilderness. I was surprised by how many paintings of St. Jerome there were. I didn't know much about St. Jerome, his name was the extent of my knowledge and it made me curious why this man was featured so much. After reading a little about him, I found out that Jerome spent a lot of time in Rome writing translations. He is now considered one of the Latin doctors of the Catholic Church. He spent a fair amount of his life as a hermit in the Syrian desert, which explains why he is depicted in the wilderness.