Page 236 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

234  ROME AREA B Y AREA

Exploring the Vatican Museums

Four centuries of papal patronage and Gallery of the Pio-Christian
connoisseurship have resulted in one of Candelabra Museum
the world’s great collections of Classical Once an open loggia,
and Renaissance art. The Vatican houses this gallery of mostly
Roman copies of Greek
many of the great archaeological finds of sculptures has a view
central Italy, including the Laocoön group, of the Vatican Gardens.
discovered in 1506 on the Esquiline, the
Apollo del Belvedere, and the Etruscan Chariot
bronze known as the Mars of Todi. During Room
the Renaissance, parts of the museums
were decorated with wonderful frescoes
commissioned for the Sistine Chapel, the
Raphael Rooms, and the Borgia Apartment.
Gallery of
Siege of Malta Tapestries
The Gallery of Maps is
an important record
of 16th-century history
and cartography.

Upper
floor
Raphael
Rooms
Raphael
Loggia

Sistine
Chapel

Gallery
Guide
Visitors have to follow a
one-way system. It is best
to concentrate on a single
collection or to choose one
of the four suggested itiner-
aries. These are color-coded so
that you can follow them throughout the
museums. They vary in length from 90 minutes to
5 hours. If you are planning a long visit, make sure
you allow plenty of time for rest. Conserve your
stamina for the Sistine Chapel and the Raphael
Rooms; they are 20–30 minutes’ walk from the Sala dei Misteri
entrance, without allowing for any viewing time This is one of the rooms of the Borgia Apartment,
along the way. richly decorated with Pinturicchio frescoes.

US_234-235_EW_Rome_US.indd 234 15/03/17 3:53 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Starsight template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2)
Date 3rd September 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm