As I think I mentioned, our apartment is pretty close to the Vatican--maybe 10 blocks away. So on Wednesday we headed over, paid our entrance fee and started through.
One of our travel books says that the Vatican Museum, (which is the first part of the complex that you go through) has one of the 3 or 4 best collections in Europe. I have nothing to compare it with, not having been at any other European museums, but believe me, it is ridiculously spectaclar, beggars the imagination and is beyond description. One wanders through room after room, hall after hall, filled with astounding statues, paintings, frescoes, etc., many of which I have seen in books. Two rooms especially drew my attention. One was a long, rather narrow corridor filled with statutes. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands. Most were ancient, meaning 1500 years old or more. There was a bust of the Roman Emperor Trajan that I had seen pictures of. I wondered to myself what it was worth. How many millions of dollars? Then I looked up and down the corridor. I figured there was enough monetary value there to pay off the national debt of several small countries. Not a very "artsy" idea but it would be fun to do a modified version of "Antiques Road Show" and have experts tell you how much such-and-such a statue is worth.
The other room that caught my eye was basically a narrow hall, about a hundred-fifty yards long (a football field and a half!). There were frescoes along the walls but what caught my attention was the ceiling. It was curved, and its entire length consisted of small paintings, frescoes and statues, all contained inside small panels framed in gold. The overall effect was indescribably stunning (you look down the hall and see a shimmering gold roof all the way to the end), and up close was equally impressive. It may be the most beautiful human creation I have ever seen.
And yes, we did see the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's magnificent frescoes. It's the climax of the museum and takes you into the actual "church" part of the Vatican. The Sistine Chapel is the Pope's "personal" chapel and it's where the conclaves are held when a new pope is chosen. Two aspects subtracted from my enjoyment of the chapel: they keep the room fairly dark (just the light coming through the clerestory windows), and there were probably a thousand people squeezed into the room. Many were taking flash pictures although they were told repeatedly not to. If we do the Vatican again, I will hire a guide to take us through at 8 a.m. or some off hour. There were huge numbers of people everywhere we went. It was also warm and humid.
Oh yes: there's also St. Peter's Basilica, "the largest church in the world." It is truly massive. It tries to be huge and soar at the same time; I'm not sure it succeeds. But at least Connie and I found chairs in a side chapel where we could . . . take a nap. While we walked around, we discussed whether the building is bigger than the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. I said "no," Connie said "yes." In retrospect, I think she is right.
There is no way I can do justice to what I saw yesterday. Indeed, there is nothing else like it on the earth, at least, not that I have seen. Like many Christians, I wonder at the opulence of it all. Is this what Jesus would want? I read a piece by Pope John Paul II wherein he wondered about the same thing. It seems to me that much of it should be sold off and invested in programs for evangelism and the development of poor countries. But it was a visual feast such as I have never seen.
In about an hour, we leave on a train for Florence. More art! More paintings! More statues! More beautiful buildings! And I haven't even told you about the stuff we saw on a walk we took night before last!
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