While many people know of the Vatican (also known as Vatican City), and they know that it contains enough art to be a museum, they usually don’t know of the Musei Vaticani… the Vatican Museums. Featuring one of the world’s largest collections of priceless artefacts, the Vatican Museums display works from the extensive collection of the Roman Catholic Church. The 1500s saw the birth of one of the world’s great cultural depositories, and it is not a place to be missed if visiting Rome. Starting out their life as a collection of sculptures collected by Pope Julius II, the collection grew and grew until (like the Musei Capitolini) they needed a home all to themselves. Popes that followed Pope Julius II opened the art collections of their palaces to the public, thus promoting knowledge of art, history, and culture. These include Pope Clement XIV, Pope Pius VI, and Pope Gregory XVI.

Page1 | Page 2

As the building grew and grew it became a multiplicity of buildings, and contained a lot more than sculptures. Inside there are things like paintings, classical antiques, tapestries, frescos, and a complex Epigraphic Collection. By the 1800s the building began to include works from other countries, including France and Egypt.

All text contained in Abusy.com is licensed to the public under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). All Information is courtesy of Wikipedia.
Copyrights | Privacy Policy | © 2005-2006 Fun Group Inc
All Poster Images Are Used With Permission Or Are Licensed Through Art.com And Allposters.com.