Cut The Junk: My Visit to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel Without a Passport

Thursday, 29 August 2019

My Visit to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel Without a Passport

I managed to see Vatican City despite my son losing his passport and trousers on the bus that morning. We had missed our timeslot and I didn’t know when we would be flying home.

It was mid-August and boiling in Rome. The crowds were tremendous. We managed to get into the Vatican despite the odds. Read my other article on how I managed to do this.

Inside the Vatican, we were allocated a guide and given green earphones which you get to keep. A Canadian guide gave us a talk, his chilled-out brogue just audible beneath the throng. But my earphones would at times cut out. I realised it was due to wandering too far from him. Each guide seems to have their own frequency, shared only by his or her group of tourists. So I kept close by and the problem seemed to resolve.

We began our tour in front of large reproductions of Michelangelo’s frescoes.

The talk lasted about half an hour before we wandered into the Vatican Museums. Our guide kept raising his hand to ensure we didn’t get lost in the crowd.

We entered the galleries, which (I had read) was 7km long, but we didn’t do the entire length. The ceilings glowed with frescos. It was hard to pay attention when astonishing images bore down on you.

Here is a brief history about the Vatican garnered from my guidebook and on the day.

The Vatican A Brief History

Constantine, Rome’s fist Christian emperor, had the basilica built over the tomb of martyred St Peter. It was sacked in 846 AD by Saracens before Pope Leo IV had huge walls built around the church. It was known as the Leoning City, then the Vatican City.

The popes took residence there in the 13th century after being in exile in Avignon. The Vatican is now an independent state after Mussolini signed the Lateron Pact in 1929. Swiss guards protect the border. It has its own post office, currency, newspaper and railway station. You don’t need a passport to cross over, although I was told I may need mine due to my son’s had gone missing.

The Vatican is approached via the Castel Sant’ Angelo bridge, adorned with Bernini’s windswept angels. Hadrian’s impressive mausoleum can be seen just over the Tiber. This fort provided a refuge for popes.

The impressive St Peter’s basilica looms ahead. Its immense proportions inspired Goethe’s quote, it is ‘like entering eternity.’

Michelangelo’s The Pieta has its own chapel near the entrance. Find Bernini’s Baldacchino over the high altar. A spiral walkway will take you up to the galleries. Find dizzying views into the basilica’s interior. At the top are stunning views of Rome and the Vatican gardens. But beneath this immense building are grottos, catacombs and the tomb of St Peter.

The Cortile Della Pigna is a good place to rest and admire the bronze pinecone fountain before delving into the galleries.

The Picture Gallery

The Pinacotaca Vaticana covers nine centuries of art with works by Fra Angelico, Perugino, Bernini and Caravaggio. Find Raphael’s Transfiguration and Da Vinci’s St Jerome.

A mindboggling collection of art and artefacts can be found from Egyptian art to contemporary. Find the Apostle library, the Borgia apartments, the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel.

The Museo Piour Clementino has wonderful Classical art.

A contemporary gallery with works by Francis Bacon provided the penultimate before the finale, the Sistine Chapel.

At this point, our guide bade us farewell and told us to simply look up.

The Sistine Chapel

The Cappella Sistina formed the climax to the tour.

This surreal place is located within the Apostolic Palace. Tourists sat on benches within a certain hush to admire the frescoes. I spent ages just looking up. Photographs aren’t allowed.

Sixtus IV had the Sistine Chapel restored in the 1470s before Michelangelo painted the ceiling under Julius II between 1508 and 12. Michelangelo returned and painted the Last Judgement in 1535- 41.

The frescoes, having faded with time, underwent restoration over twenty years ending in the 1990s. The chapel tells a story in three parts:

The southern wall: The Stories of Moses, painted 1508-1512.

The northern wall The Stories of Jesus, painted 1508–1512.

Over the altar: The Last Judgment, painted 1535-1541.

Notice an almost naked Jesus serving judgement in the center. This breathtaking scene is best viewed from near the chapel’s exit. Plenty of benches are provided for optimum viewing.

Also to be admired are the Raphael tapestries and frescoes by other artists.

What an experience! I will never forget it. But I had horrible problems on my mind.

My son’s passport was missing and I didn’t think we would be flying home on Monday. I braced myself for liaising with the Roman Police, the British Embassy and Lost Property.

Read about how I managed to get us home in two days on my other articles.