Vatican City
Most famous monument within this small city state is of course the San Pietro Basilica. Until 1989 this was the biggest cathedral in Christianity (now it is surpassed by his replica in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast). The current structure dates from the early 16th century, although there have been churches on this site since 326 AD.
The Sistine Chapel is the other remarkable item here. Dating from the late 15th century, this papal conference room is decorated by a series of paintings by a.o. Michelangelo. Between 1535 and 1541 he added his masterpiece: The Last Judgement. After restauration in the 1980s, visitors can enjoy again the marvellous glow of his art.
Visit June 1995
Vatican City is a nice day trip from Rome. Nothing more or less. You could skip it when you only have a few days in Rome, in favour of the monuments of the Classical Roman Empire.
San Pietro Basilica is large, extremely large. That is the only impression that really lasted after I visited the site.
Reviews
Rajive Goel (India):
Truly amazing, I happened to go to The Vatican City by chance, was truly amazed to read about the size & population of this country. |
| Date posted: May 2009 |
stewart ayu (canada):
St Peters was extraordinary and arguably as impressive as any architectural feat in Christiandom. Even more special was a tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. The Renaissance paintings and rooms were breathtaking despite the crowds. Most impressive was a 15th century hand painted translation of Aristotle's 'Poetics'. However, the Museums have an enormous collection of artifacts from Antiquity onwards. |
| Date posted: March 2009 |
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You have to see the Vatican Museam including the Sistine Chaple but do not visit the museam in Sunday beacause it is closed on Sunday. Also see St.Peter's tomb. The museam is usaly crowded daily and the lines are very long to enter the museam it is very hot and sticky in the summer. |
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Ian Cade (England):
 This is the world’s smallest country, however it possesses a wealth of history, art & architectural treasures worthy of even the largest. The creation of the Vatican as it is at the moment mostly goes back to the High Renaissance when many of the commissions were taken up by nothing short of men of genius (Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo and Bernini), a much over used term but here it can be pretty justified.
The central part of the site is St Peters Basilica, it is one of the holiest places in Christendom, destination of one of its three main pilgrimages and is one of its largest cathedrals. I was very impressed, it is massive inside and finely decorated, the dome is huge. Underneath the Basilica sits the crypts with the remains of the popes from St Peter through to John Paul II.
The other main part open to visitors is the Vatican museums. These are very busy and normally have long queues, but I think they are defiantly worth he hassle to get inside. The exhibits are fine but the main draw is the rooms themselves with their immaculate decorations. I really enjoyed the geographical room, and of course the Sistine Chapel, which comes at the end of nearly all the routes. The chapel is one of the highlights of Rome, and impressive despite the huge amount of visitors.
However my favourite single piece of work was Raphael’s ‘School of Athens’ covering a wall in one of the many rooms he decorated. Ken Clarke in his documentary ‘Civilisation’ (it is a little old but a truly awesome piece of work, well worth buying on DVD) described this work as “a summit of western civilisation” I find it very hard to disagree, this was the highlight of Italy for me.
No matter what your religious or political views (mine clash with this site a fair bit) this is a site well worth visiting, allow yourself as long as it takes from Rome (depending on queues at least half a day). This site is about as good as WHS come. |
| Date posted: November 2005 |
Ben Pastore (USA):
I'm not Catholic, but it is hard to not be impressed by the lavish wealth and imposing structures amassed by the church and on display. It really is quite a show. |
| Date posted: June 2005 |
Klaus Freisinger (Austria):
Very few World Heritage Sites can claim to take up an entire country (only this one, really), and the Vatican City is an unusual country, to say the very least. You should go there just out of curiosity, even if you are not interested in anything else. The world´s smallest and least populated country, but one that issues its own coins and stamps, has a mercenary army of medieval Guardsmen, a border that is just a line drawn on the ground, and lots of other oddities in this last absolute monarchy in Europe (actually, a theocracy). Apart from all this, two top attractions await visitors: St.Peter´s Cathedral is an immensely big church with many side attractions (St.Peter´s Tomb, star marking the spot where Charlemagne was crowned Emperor in 800, the Pietà) and is usually very crowded (together with the no less magnificent St.Peter´s Square with its colonnades), especially on or around major church holidays. Probably the (even) better attraction is the Vatican Museums, an ensemble of museums, expositions, and collections that could take days to explore. Plus it contains a wonderful highlight - the Sistine Chapel, one of the world´s major masterpieces of art, in which papal elections still take place today. For this room alone, it´s certainly worth to stand in line for a couple of hours to get in. Often overlooked or bypassed, the Castel Sant´Angelo also merits a visit - very fascinating interior!
Even if you are not Christian or not a believer, you can´t fail to be impressed by these monuments. |
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