But since I was in Italy a lot longer than I was in
Vienna last year I am dividing this traveling piece into three posts. Besides
Pompeii and the Vatican deserve their own post, don't you think? So sit back, take a glass of
wine, preferably play some Bon Jovi – Thank you for loving me, whos video was
entirely shot in Rome. How about that? Though, he's Bon Jovi, they cleared the
area at the Trevi fountain for him, while us normal mortals had to push through
ridiculous crowds to get anywhere close to that masterpiece.
So to follow a somehow logical part of my trip, we'll
start with the Vatican, go on with Rome and finish up with the Pompeii ruins.
First a few tips about the Vatican. It's impossible to
get in without a ticket bought online at least a week in advance. If you think
you'll walk up to the museum and buy a ticket…sure you can but before you get
there, 2 hour if not more of waiting in a line. And say a day or two before you visit, buying a
ticket online is imposible, they are usually all sold out, so plan ahead and buy online a week in advance (same for Villa Borghese). If you
don't, there's many ''skip the line'' agencies, which I assume are part of the reason why tickets ran out online, they buy out everything. Very expensive 55 to 75 to over 100 euros
for a ticket and guided tour. In a way a guided tour is better, you skip the
line and are guided through most important art pieces, but it's a 2 hour tour
which is not nearly enough for the entire museum, so you only see say 40
percent and no galleries with paintings at all. Aggravating but for me it was enough (for now) because as stupid as it sounds I
went only for the Laokoon and the St. Peters Basillica. Oh and of course the Sistine chapel.
The Sistine chapel and the Basilica are included in the
guided tour, else entry to the Basilica is free but as everything else, impossible lines, swirling through the entire St. Peters square. Also important
and good to know fact, if photography is allowed everywhere else (without flash
of course) it is absolutely forbidden to take any pictures of the Sistine
chapel, which to me was just devastating because let's be honest it is
absolutely AMAZING. The altar paintings and the Creation of Adam is surreal, well to be fair the entire thing is surreal.
But lets start at the begining. I noticed that many
people, mostly Americans (no offence) have no idea what the Vatican is…which
okay, shouldn't surprise me that much but I guess it does. There are things,
mostly art related and European history related that are completely obvious to
me, because I know a ton about them, that I am automatically surprised when
other people don't. Note to self Nikki, not everyone is a major nerd like you…(a bit nerdy wouldn't kill people though).
So the Vatican City, is really a state, or a country if
you will, inside of Rome Italy. It's officially called Vatican City State or
Stato della Citta dei Vaticano and it's an independent city state. It's about
44 hectares big with the population of around 1000 people which makes it the
smallest state in the world. Obviously the
Vatican is ruled by the Pope / Bishop who is also the head of Roman Catholic
Church. The most important landmarks in
Vatican as mentioned above are the St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and
of course Musei Vaticani or the Vatican museums that house some of the worlds
most famous paintings and sculptures.
Here's the deal, when visiting Rome, skipping Vatican museums is almost impossible, they are a collection of museums that make up the 4th biggest museum in the world and are roughly visited by 6 million people each year. Which presents it's own difficulties, it's incredibly crowded, walking along corridors is hard, stopping to admire a certain piece of art almost impossible. Now you know me, I walked along a garden growling and hissing at ''walking selfie making zombies'' in front of me that barely moved and I cut a corner and there it is in front of me, suddenly, the Laokoon. Looming over the crowd appearing as if no joke Mother Mary to religious people. I literally shrieked when I saw him. There aint a piece of art on this planet that I admire more than him…I mean just look…
Fun fact, since the artist that made Laokoon is not
determined (supposedly Agezander, Polidor and Atendor created it) there are
many theories around about who and when it was created and if it's in fact a
Roman copy of a Greek original. In 2005 Lynn Catterson claimed that Laokoon was actually created in 1506 by
Michelangelo. Crazy. But also not so crazy, it sure does have some of
Michelangelos fine art techniques. Just look at his ''Dying Slave'' which was inspired by the Laokoon.
Now what this piece actually depicts is a Trojan priest,
Laocoon. The story goes that when the Greeks left the famous Trojan Horse on
the beach it was Laocoon who tried to warn the Trojan leaders against bringing
it into the city because it could be a trap. And the Greek goddess Athena that
was a protector of the greeks punished Laocoon for meddling by having him and
his two sons attacked by sea serpents Porces and Chariboea.
This piece was important also as a historical influence,
leaving a huge impact on Baroque and Neoclassical sculpturism.
Another significant part for me at least is the ''Gallery
of maps / Galleria delle carte geografiche''. It's a gallery (sections of the
Vatican museums are called galleries) located on the west of the Belvedere
Courtyard. It contains a series of painted maps of Italy based on drawings by
friar and geographer Ignazio Danti. But honestly it's not the maps that are
interesting, they are nice and all but guys, the gallery is essentially a large
wide corridor, 120 meters long, and the ceiling, the ceiling! My god. Not
anything I had ever saw in my entire life. It's amazing. Amazing enough to make
some Americans think they were in the Sistine chapel. Sigh. I mean not to be
rude, but this entire trip was a collage of insanely funny comments by
Americans who were clearly determined to prove that they are not the smartest
people on earth. ''Does the St. Peters only include sacred painting motives and
sculptures?'' uh actually no if you round that corner over there you'll see a
painting of Yoda and the Death Star. Can you see me rolling my eyes? Honestly.
I can't.
Each gallery containing any kind of art form is
breathtaking, spectacular, beautiful. The ceilings are extraordinary, the
reliefs or the frescos on them are out of this world. It all screams money
really, once inside you're just aware of the riches of the Vatican and the
church. It's a bit…what's the right word? Wrong to say the least specially when
all around the Vatican and under the nearer bridge there are homless and
beggars. Wrong.
Now before I make this too long and since I can't comment
on the paintings gallery. Didn't get to see them after all…lets go to the
Sistine chapel. Mad security, cameras everywhere and if you try to take a
picture you're thrown out. So I didn't risk it. It's not worth it. But it's a
shame. Because really it's a masterpiece on it's own. I never imagined just how
big the damn thing is. Enourmous. If you watch it on tv each time you do it
looks a lot smaller, a lot darker really, than it actually is, and then you're
suddenly standing in the middle, right under the Creation of Adam and it just
feels surreal that the damn thing is actually real. Like a concert you know,
musicians suddenly aren't just pictures online but real people, so is this,
it's not just online art, it's real. Amazing. Also it makes you feel extremely
small and insignificant but I suppose that's the purpose of the church.
Cappella Sistina is the site of the papal conclave today,
so the process of chosing a new pope happens in there. And the fame of it is
really all due Michelangelo. Btw it's not entirely painted by him, the side
paintings were done were done by several other artists such as Pietro Perugino,
Cosimo Rosselli and Sandro Botticelli. The ceiling of the Sistine chapel was
obviously difficult to paint, I mean creating such beauty must be hard to do
down on the ground never mind several meters in the air and on a ceiling. But it's
a wrong belief that Michelangelo did it laying down, he actually did it
standing up on a wooden platform he created himself after Donato Bramante
failed to produce a solution as to how to paint the ceiling. Colours used are clearly very bright to make
them visible from the floor, you can see the ancestors of Christ, male and
female prophets and Jonah over the altar. On the highest section there are nine
stories from the Book of Genesis. The chapel also fatures the Last judgement
behind the altar (where btw all figures were painted naked and were ''dressed''
only later). Michelangelo was first asked to paint only 12 figures but he
turned down saying he aint a painter, later with compromise to paint whatever
he want (as long as it's biblical) he agreed and painted more than 300 figures!
300! Can you imagine the tiring and exhausting work he had to put in to create
this beauty? It's about 40 meters x 13 meters which would mean about 460 square
meters of frescos. Like, woah! And as amazing as it sounds it's equally amazing
standing inside. Now his own chosing features also the Creation of Adam (my
favourite) the creation of Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and
the Great flood.
Now we all know that Michelangelo was not religious, he
was more of a spiritualist and he was not the biggest fan of the church. And the
church was not the biggest fan of him. Now did you know that Michelangelo
started disecting human bodies and learning about anatomy at the age 17? Or that
he did that by digging up corpses and cutting them open? It's a fact thats both
fascinating and deeply disgusting. I can't decide which is more. I think
fascinating. Such a deep desire to learn your art to do that…wow. You've heard
about the hidden brain depictions in the chapel right? In the representations
of God? Giving the illusion that God not only gave Adam life but also superior
inteligence? But did you know about other hidden messages? There's even a book
written about it and of course non other than Dan Brown had a lot to say about
the censorship and ignorance that makes us blind to other possible
meanings of one of the probably biggest art treasures in the world.
Now because Michelangelo wanted to scuplt not paint and
aparently this project was somewhat forced upon him he did a few subtle things.
Like say the small angel painting on the ceiling, it's impossible to see from
the ground but looking up close you can see the angel doing the ''fig'', sticking the thumb between the index and middle finger, in the Renaissance era
this was the same as flipping someone off. The angel is next to a prophet
Zechariah which is believed to be painted in the likness of Pope Julius II. The
small angels gesture is therefore aimed at the Pope Julius II also known as ''Papa
Terribile'' or the ''Fearsome Pope'' and this was Michelangelo's way of
insulting him in a subtle way where Papa Terribile would never know since it's
nearly impossible to see it from the ground.
This was supposed to be just one of the very famous
insults towards Pope Julius who Michelangelo despised and was disgusted with
his way of working. Not to mention they bickered back and forth about the
motives painted and the slowness of Michelangelos work (hello idiot perfection
takes time) and of course in turn Michelangelo complains about the slowness of
payments. Like an ancient soap opera. The
works also include a lot of Kabbalistic and Judist symbolics and several
depictions of human body parts hidden in subtle ways which was supposedly
Michelangelos way to protest against the churches refusal of the scientific
method.
Alright enough about the Sistine chapel and lets move on
to the St. Peters Basilica. Can I just say ''oh my god''? I mean I saw a ton,
literally a ton of churches in my life. And none of them compare to this one. It's
insane. Literally insane, how big, beautiful and breathtaking this church is. Literally
it's the Keanu Reeves of churches.
It was designed by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo
Maderno and of course Gian Lorenzo Bernini and it is the largest church in the
world. I mean just look at the basic specs, in length it's 220 meters, 150
meters in width and 136 meters high with the dome measuring 42 meters in
diameter. Like can you even begin to imagine that monstrosity or how, HOW did
they even attempt to build it? It's insane. Outside of the Basilica there's the
famous St. Peter's square which is basically two sections both with
''corridors'' of tall colonnades, decorated by sculptures, which are even more
fascinating. Not only are they the hight of sacred architecture and beauty but
just thinking about how the hell did they do it, with no fancy machinery. It's
crazy. Someone once wrote about this church that it makes us feel overwhelming,
like dwarves because the entire thing, the building, the domes, the colonnades,
the altars, everything, is massive in size. It has well over 20 altars with the
most famous being Berninis Baldacchino. The baldachin is nothing I've ever seen
before. I know I say this a lot but that's how it is, you walk around Vatican
and every single thing amazes you more than the last one. There's nothing small
and modest here, everything is big and impressive. So the baldachin is no
exception. It's actually a large bronze sculpted canopy right at the center of
the crossing and under the dome of the Basilica. It's supposed to mark the
Saint Peter's tomb underneath. Talking about impressive marker huh? I mean…like,
a floor marker would be enough no? But no, lets build a giant canopy instead. Another
thing that makes you feel small in size…I mean take a look (and no I don't
support taking pictures or worse a selfie in a church but this one…I really
needed a picture of me in this church. It's beyond your wildest dreams).
The Basilica really is the whole concept of paintings, sculptures, and light vs dark art combined. Everything together features a symphony of artistic perfection unlike any other in the world. It's something not just religious people and artist should see, but every one on this planet should be privileged enough to see it some day because it really is nothing short of spectacular.
One other very prominent and important thing about this
Basilica is of course as well Michelangelos Pieta. Now Pieta is basically any
depiction of Mother Mary holding dead Jesus after crucificion. Michelangelos
work is that much more important because it has a perfect balance of
Renaissance ideals of classical beauty with naturalism. And, AND! it's the only
piece Michelangelo ever signed. Of course as David so did she have to suffer
substantial damage. A mental patient attacked her just like another one attacked David (what is with these wackos?) causing a lot of
damage and people, onlookers instead of tackling him down which is what I would
do, looked and STOLE pieces of marble flying around. I mean what? WHAT?!
Seriously I would hang them all in the public square as a warning to others. There
is something seriously SERIOUSLY wrong with the human race. Thank god for Bob
Cassilly who tackled the fruit loop away from the sculpture. I applaud you. Thankfully
it was restored, they did her justice I believe and it's back where it belongs
today only behind a bulletproof glass panel. Sad.
After marveling at the Basilica you can desend up over
500 steps to have a look at basically entire Rome. My advice? DO IT. It's so
worth it. The view is spectacular, of the Vatican, of Rome and of Vaticans
amazing gardens. Only, if it's the summer, do take a lift up there because the
heat is unbearable and the stairs are spirally and narrow. Easy to get dizzy
and disoriented and possibly get a heat stroke. They don't advice heart
patients to go on foot. But seriously
the view is worth all the trouble. See for yourself.
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