Snaps & Stories: Interesting Italy! (Vatican City)

Vatican Museum Ceilings, originally uploaded by jovijovijovi.

Interesting Italy! (Vatican City)
November 2009

We visited the Vatican for an afternoon during our 2 day stay in Rome. We entered the Vatican City through the museum entrance from Rome. We had to pass through heavy security and checking at the entrance; similar if not more stringent than international airports. The museum was beautiful and those who have the time could probably spend a day or two at the Vatican, admiring all the works of art and architecture. The walls and ceilings were covered in paintings and tapestries from various eras and Popes. Priceless sculptures and relics are displayed in various sections of the museum. There was a hallway where various parts of Italy were depicted in paintings and tapestries left and right. A particular Pope wanted it that way so that he would see the church’s empire as he walked pass.

Tapestry and paintings on the walls, painted ceilings as well

Intricately painted ceilings! the painting includes borders and etchings that are painted such that they look real (or 3 dimensional) from below.

We entered the Sistine Chapel at the end of the Museum tour. Photos were not allowed to avoid degradation to the magnificent paintings of Michelangelo and the other artists on the ceiling and the walls. Still, many people would steal photos (even with flashes firing) and continue to talk and chatter despite the constant reminders of the staff to keep silent and that taking photos were not allowed. I myself took no photos as I could easily search for the ceiling and wall paintings on the internet anyway. I hope tourists would learn to be more respectful of the customs and rules of each particular place or country.

The Pieta by Michelangelo

Now sealed behind glass. There was one time when a crazy guy jumped up and damaged Mary's face with a hammer before he was arrested.

After exiting the Sistine Chapel, we were fortunate enough to be able to enter the catacombs where we saw the tomb of John Paul II and St. Peter (the first Pope) as well. We were lucky as the catacombs are not always open for the public. We then exited the catacombs through a narrow staircase and a wonderful surprise met us at the end, we were already in the middle of St. Peter’s Basilica! Our tour guide loves the catacomb entrance to the Basilica as it catches the tourist off guard to the magnificence of the Basilica. The Basilica is truly magnificent and although the catacomb entrance added to the initial beauty, the actual beauty is still very definite even without the flair of the catacomb surprise entrance. Works of art and various important religious sculptures (including the Pieta by the great Michelangelo) and relics are found inside the huge and well maintained church.

St. Peter's Basilica: beneath the large brown structure is the tomb of St. Peter

We exited the Vatican City through St. Peter’s Square and left the Vatican in awe and revived religious fervor (at least for me :p). All the history and the magnificence made me feel proud of my religion and want to be more active in my duties in the church as a Catholic. Though I found the magnificence and extravagance a bit ironic as the Catholic religion is supposed to be about simplicity and self-sacrifice; it still had a positive effect on me as I am only human who also value wealth and power (to some extent :p). The Roman Catholic Religion is truly an empire that is rich and powerful, even today. The Roman Catholics have done well coming from persecution and exile to amassing so much riches and power. With all these riches, I wish they would support more the Churches in the poorer areas of the world, especially here in the Philippines (the Catholic center of Asia). The stark contrast between the Vatican City and the life of priests and the parishes in some of the provinces here in the Philippines is discomforting. Re-investing the Church’s riches to get more riches is important for future needs of the Church and its people; but it’s all useless if many of the parishes around the world are not supported properly. Isn’t the money supposed to be for the parishes? And if the parishes are not supported well, the Catholic Religion may lose even more people and even priests as well (adding to other factors such as atheism, shifting to other religions, etc).