Vatican City and the Basilica of St. Peter

St. Peter's Basilica

After a wonderful lunch in a cafe in Rome our tour continued on to Vatican City. Vatican City is the smallest independent city-state in the world, and is located within a walled compound inside the city of Rome. Contained within the Vatican City are the Vatican Museums. Here you can find an amazing collection of art, sculpture, and artifacts which have been collected by the Vatican over the past 600 years. We could have spent days inside the Vatican Museums exploring the art and artifacts, but on this day we were limited to just an hour or so as we had a specific destination in mind: The Sistine Chapel.

The Sistine Chapel is the best known chapel in the apostolic palace: the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. Friends had warned me that they were surprised by how small the chapel is, so I was actually surprised at how large it is! The fresco art on the walls and ceiling is just stunning. Completed by Michelangelo, Botticelli  and others, the detail is simply amazing. What a treasure! I just stood for several minutes gazing at "The Creation of Adam", and then at "The Last Judgement", both by Michelangelo. To think of how long ago these were done ("The Last Judgement" was painted between 1535 and 1541) and the incredible talent involved left me a bit awestruck. But, we had to keep moving. We had one more very special place to go before our day in Rome was finished.

The ceiling of The Sistine Chapel

"The Last Judgement"

 After we left the Sistine Chapel our tour guide led us into St. Peter's Basilica. It is believed that Peter, an apostle of Jesus, was martyred near an ancient Egyptian obelisk in the Circus of Nero. This obelisk was eventually moved and now stands in St. Peter's Square. Peter was buried and his grave marked with a simple red rock. (You might recall that Jesus told Peter he would be the "rock" on which the Church would be built.) The first basilica to St. Peter was constructed over what was believed to be Peter's tomb about 300 years later and today is the site of the magnificent St. Peter's Basilica. Many Popes have chosen to be buried here, and pilgrims flock to the Basilica each year. In the 1930's archaeological digging was begun to try and discover if Peter was, indeed, buried beneath the basilica. Remains, wrapped in cloth trimmed with gold, were eventually unearthed and these remains along with some other artifacts lead Pope Pius XII to announce that the tomb of St. Peter had been discovered. St. Peter's Basilica is, to this day, one of the largest churches in the world and definitely one of the most recognizable. There was a service going on whilst we were there but we were still able to go in and spend a few minutes taking in the size and beauty of this very special place.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

Looking up into the dome

St. Peter's baldachin: Designed by Lorenzo Bernini this is a large bronze canopy over the high altar

After a long day exploring Rome and some of it's treasures we left St. Peter's Basilica behind and walked through St. Peter's Square on our way to meet our bus. The Pope had addressed the people earlier in the day. We were shown the Pope's window, but we did not see the Pope. We were also reminded about the selection process for choosing a new Pope, and shown the famous chimney used to let the world know when a new Pope has been chosen by sending up smoke. 

A portion of St. Peter's Square and the Egyptian Obelisk.

A member of the Swiss Guard stands watch. Vatican City is protected by the Italian army. The Swiss Guard serve as the Pope's personal body guards.

 Wow! What an amazing day we had in Rome! This is one city with lots of treasures, and much more to explore than we could possibly fit into a day. Seems like maybe we need to plan a trip back :)!