- Arrival
- The Unusual
- Archives
- Sistine Chapel
- The Basilica
- Departure
After our short tour of Rome we were taken to the Vatican and met the person who was to be our new guide while there. This guy was an older retired Vatican employee, having spent most of his working career there. He was very knowledgeable and seemed to know personally all of the staff people we came in contact with.
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This is the "new" Bramante Staircase just off the museum where we entered the Vatican. It is modeled after the ramp you will see in the next section (the Unusual). |
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These two pictures were taken from the museum area upon arrival. |
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The original Stairway of Bramante is a spiral ramp that was built in 1505 AD and became the prototype for other staircases. With this design, mules could continuously walk up and down to allow an easy flow of carrying large items into the papal palaces. This is one of the sites that most visitors to the Vatican do not see. |
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From the top of that tower you see the back side of the Pope's apartment. |
In order to enter this archive the guide engaged a security guard who unlocked the door, turned on the lights and stayed with us as we looked around. In this space are stored many items that were gifted to the Vatican in ancient times. Here are some of the pictures of what we found there.
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One of the ancient artifacts was warmer than the others!! |
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For our next stop we blindly followed our guide and somehow ended up at the Sistine Chapel, through the back door. WOW - what a site!
We have seen pictures of this all our lives, but here it is was for real!
The crowds were totally overwhelming.
Sistine Chapel |
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| Behind the chapel altar | Above the altar and part of ceiling |
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The picture to the left shows a view of the Chapel space from the altar. |
The Room of Tears |
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This is another space that very few visitors get to see.
This room is just off the Sistine Chapel and is where the new Popes put on their white papal vestments for the first time.
It is called the Room of Tears because newly elected Popes are often so overwhelmed by their appointment that many shed tears. |
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The folks in the above pictures are some of the people on the tour with us. A lady from Toronto, couples from Sacramento and Los Angeles, California, a couple (Jewish)from New York City and us (gay and atheist) from Halifax comprised our entire group. Despite the diversity we survived without a single roof collapsing!! |
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From the Sistine Chapel our next destination was St Peter's Basilica. Probably the most unusual thing of our visit was how we arrived...our guide led us under the basilica where we climbed a narrow set of stairs and were suddenly in the middle of the basilica...having ascended from the depths!!
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| The Dome | A huge inside space |
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St. Peter's Throne |
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Seeing La Pieta was an unexpected visceral experience for me (Bob). Having seen pictures all of my life I was looking forward to viewing it; but being that close, I admit I had a tear. Unbelievable! I think this is an example of why we should travel. |
La Pieta |
Our final stop on the tour was St. Peter's Square.
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The Pope's apartments |
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Part of the Museum |
Theses are the steps the Pope uses to access the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica. |
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These pictures are of a chapel that is a part of the museums. Sometimes the Pope will sneak away from his apartment to this chapel where he will celebrate his own private mass. (The people in these photos were part of our tour.) |
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This picture was taken in St Peter's Square. The fellow pointing (lower left) was our guide through the Vatican. |
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This is the only picture we have of the Square, and was taken from the main entrance of the Basilica. When I (Sam) stood at the base of the obelisk (centre right) and viewed the Basilica and all the surrounding ornamentation is when I had my visceral moment of the trip. Being in the centre of this iconic sight, having seen it countless times on television, gave me the chills!
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