Visit to the Sistine Chapel, Rome

Visit to the Sistine Chapel, Rome			pune City Speak State Nation World Views Sports Stock Market Industry Home Finance Corporate Literature Cinema Entertainment Latest News Fashion Food Health Infotech Music People RelationShip Small Screen Wheels Editor's Pick Features Maglets Blog
Amid the masterpieces Sakal Times, Pune  By CAMIL PARKHE Published on December 25, 2011  Parkhe recalls how he soaked in the ambience of Sistine Chapel during his recent tour of the Vatican Museums    While entering the Vatican Museums, which include the famous Sistine Chapel, one’s mind is filled with rich expectations. There is so much written about the paintings of the Renaissance artists Michaelangelo and Raphael. Therefore, I almost grew impatient as I, along with my family, waited in a long serpentine queue to enter the Vatican Museums. There were many touts approaching tourists to offer them entry tickets with premium Euros to jump the queue. But not prepared to take the risk of being duped, we waited patiently. To our pleasant surprise, we soon reached the entrance, and purchased the entry coupons.   While the visit to St Peter’s Basilica and its spacious campus is free of cost, the entry fee for visiting the Vatican Museums is 14 Euros for adults and eight Euros for children below 16 years. There is some concession for Catholic priests wearing the Roman collar. Having visited other museums and tourist attractions around Europe, I found this fee quite exorbitant. But the desire to visit the museum made me think beyond those calculations.   The museums in the Vatican are a series of galleries adorned with statues, paintings, relics and draperies from the ancient, medieval and the Renaissance periods. For the connoisseurs of art and culture, research scholars in history and archeology, and anthropologists, a visit to these museums is a golden opportunity.   But, the movement in the Vatican Museums is one way and the visitors cannot turn back to the entry point. They are constantly on the move towards the exit. So for an average visitor, there is not much time to stand at one place to admire an exhibit for a long time. There are thousands of exhibits, and visitors must rush from one gallery to the other to see them. It can take a few weeks to observe minutely all the art pieces.   We decided to go slow when we entered the illuminated galleries that are decorated with draperies.  As we walked, I suddenly realised that we had entered the famous Sistine Chapel, which used to be the venue for the conclave of cardinals to elect the new pope, and where Michaelangelo created his wonderful paintings. Michaelangelo, who was commissioned by the Pope in 1508, took several years to create these paintings.   Soon it became clear that the atmosphere and the mood in Sistine Chapel, named after Pope Sixtus IV, is far different from the other Vatican museums. It is a chapel — a sacred place, and tourists have to maintain decorum here.   Ignoring our complaining necks, we looked up — and were thrilled to see the precision and aesthetics with which the great artist used bright colours to create the masterpieces. Equally thrilling was coming face-to-face with the Last Judgement. Just behind the altar at the Chapel, this grand painting made me speechless. The scale of all these frescoes put me in a trance, as I soaked in the ambience to my heart’s content.   And after all that, I changed my opinion. The entry fee may have been heavy on pocket, but the masterpieces at these museums are so priceless and fascinating that it is worth every Euro.

When in Rome, do visit the Vatican City

When in Rome, do visit the Vatican City

CAMIL PARKHE
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 AT 03:48 PM (IST)
Tags: Spice,   travel,   Rome,   Vatican City,   church,   Roman Catholic,   Camil Parkhe
Camil Parkhe tells how he was awed by the size and historical significance of the Vatican City

We got down from the tram in a central part of Rome and were told, “There, that is the entrance of the Vatican City!”  My wife, daughter and I found ourselves being pulled in that direction, filled with awe and anticipation. A visit to Rome and the Vatican is a dream tour for any Roman Catholic, or for that matter, even to those interested in art, sculpture, architecture and other faculties.

After crossing the entrance having huge pillars, the visitor is suddenly feasted to a magnificent sight — the famous St Peter’s Square! It is a huge oval place, accommodating thousands of pilgrims when the pontiff appears in a balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to deliver his weekly address on Sunday morning or on religious feasts. We saw hundreds of tourists alighting from coaches and equipped with cameras heading towards St Peter’s Square.

In front of the impressive huge facade of the basilica are tall statues of St Peter and St Paul. Statues of other apostles and saints are located on top portion of the facade. On the right side of the basilica is the papal residence. It is here that the pope meets dignitaries from all over the world in his capacity as the head  of the Catholic Church and also as the head of the sovereign Vatican state. The basilica is built over the tomb of St Peter and the first pope’s successors are also buried in this shrine.

Significantly,  the Vatican City is the smallest nation in the world with an approximate area of 110 acres and the number of its citizens is less than 800. Most of these citizens are the cardinals, other clergies and nuns posted at the Vatican and the elite Swiss guards — the youths from Switzerland who, in keeping with the 500-year-old old tradition, volunteer to guard the pope and the Vatican.

Due to its small size, the Vatican City has no public transport like buses or taxis. The only vehicles one sees moving in this sovereign state are of the Vatican officials and employees, most of whom reside  in Rome.

I entered the basilica and stood bewitched looking at the first sculpture in the first chapel on the right side of the basilica. It was La Pieta, Michaelangelo’s masterpiece depicting grief-stricken Mary holding the corpse of her son, Jesus. It was a  great experience watching the world’s one of the most acclaimed and valuable marble sculptures.

One is overwhelmed by the dome of the basilica, an important skyline of Rome. For those well versed in Catholic Church history or researchers in various faculties, hours are not sufficient observing the sculptures, architecture and other objects in this basilica, perhaps the largest church in the world. 

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