The Vatican Museums in Rome house a great artistic, historical and cultural treasure. If you have never been, I assure you that you cannot get used to the idea of the importance and wealth that is stored under those walls. Today we tell you what is the history of the Vatican Museums and why they are so important.
The history of the Vatican Museums
We have to go back to the year 1447 to be able to talk about the construction of the Vatican. We will go back to Pope Nicholas V, who founded the Vatican Library and he was also the one who commissioned the architect Bernardo Rossellino to design the new St. Peter’s Basilica.
Years later, in 1471, Pope Sixtus IV ordered the construction of the -today very famous- Sistine Chapel. Sandro Botticelli (author of The Birth of Venus, among other works) and Pietro Perugino were in charge of its decoration. But, as we know it today and for whom it has harbored so much splendor, it is thanks to Miguel Ángel Buonarroti who was commissioned to repaint the chapel by order of Pope Julius II in 1508.
And it was with Julius II that the Vatican Museums cWith the construction of new buildings and galleries that he connected to each other, he also joined them to those that were already built. This man was elected pope in 1503 and decided to move his collection of private works to the Octagonal Courtyard (today it has the same name). Among his outstanding works, Apollo of Belvedere, the Venere Felice, the sleeping Ariadne and the group of Laocoon, among others. It was also Julius II who ordered the ramp to access the upper floors from the Belvedere garden, which was designed by Donato Bramante, just as he commissioned the decoration of the Raphael Rooms.
In the year 1740 there is a reorganization of the rooms and the works stored in the museums Sacred and Profane and the Cabinet of Masks under the tutelage of Pope Benedict XIV. 16 years later, Johann Joachim Winckelmann makes great archaeological discoveries that end up promoting that the great collection of the Vatican’s works ceases to be only private and becomes accessible to the public.
The following popes planned and commissioned the Pio-Clementino museum, the Canova museum, the Gregorian Etruscan Museum, the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, the Gregorian Profane Museum, the Missionary-Ethnological museum and an art gallery.
Finally, we come to 1970. At this time it is ordered that the works of the old Lateran collections, the Gregorian Profane and Pius Christian Museums and the Missionary-Ethnological Museum be transferred to the Vatican. Three years later the collection of Modern Religious Art and the Carriage Museum. In 1989 the 2000 the Historic museum which is the product of the reorganization of the Gregorian Egyptian and Gregorian Etruscan museums.
Vatican Museums today
Honestly, I cannot imagine a visit to Rome that does not include a visit to the Vatican Museums, since it is one of the most important museums in the world and that, as you have been able to read, it has one of the most important historical and artistic collections, of incalculable value at all levels.
That yes, given the large number of works that it stores, all the curiosities that it offers and so that you do not miss the most important, I recommend that if you want to see it and experience it with your own eyes, you choose to hire a guide. Today you can find packs of routes that allow you to get to know the highlights of the Roman city and the Vatican, which will allow you to better discover the history of the eternal city and from evolution to our current history.