Reședința papală nu e un palat în sensul clasic al cuvântului, ci mai curând o colecție de vile, palate și alte clădiri interconectate, construite în secole diferite. Cea mai veche, Belvedere, datează din 1484. La vremea aceea, a fost prima vilă construită la Roma nu din necesitate, ci pentru plăcerea [...]

Ca notorietate, Pieta e probabil a doua operă a lui Michelangelo. Fără să atingă perfecțiunea absolută a lui David, aflată în Florența, această sculptură e un exemplu impresionant de ce a însemnat arta Renașterii, din partea celui mai mare sculptor de la antichitate încoace. Opera o reprezintă pe Fecioara Maria, [...]

The Papal residence is not a palace in the traditional understanding of the term, but rather a collection of villas, palaces and other interconnecting buildings, constructed in different centuries. The oldest, the Belvedere, dates from 1484. At that time it was the first major villa built in Rome not out [...]

Pieta is probably the second best known statue of Michelangelo. Without reaching the absolute perfection of David, found in Florence, this sculpture is an impressive example of Renaissance art, by what is probably the best sculptor since antiquity. It represents Mary holding the lifeless body of Jesus, after the descent [...]

From the treasury held by the Vatican Museum, some 460 notable paintings, grouped in 18 chambers, were selected to form Vatican’s art gallery open to the public. Among them, the works of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Giotto, Veronese, Caravaggio and many others. The canvas paintings add to Michelangelo’s frescoes [...]

The tour through the Vatican Museum walks tourists through the countless sections that include Egyptology, ancient sculpture, tapestry, oil paintings. Before the high point represented by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, which is always the last point of the typical tour, the visitors meet the marvelous successive rooms covered with frescoes by [...]

What Medici family started in Florence, and was branded by their chronicler and propagandist Giorgio Vasari as the Renaissance, found its peak in Rome, with the help of Pope Julius II. Perhaps the name chosen by this pope, alluding to Julius Caesar, was not coincidental. The ambitions of this head [...]

The last supper Jesus and His apostles took before the trial and the crucifixion is one of the most popular scenes in Christian iconography. The tradition is so old, this scene was even drawn on the walls of the catacombs when Christianity was illegal. The biblical foundation of this art [...]

Atunci când oamenii aud sintagma “catedrala din Roma”, se duc cu gândul la bazilica Sfântul Petru de la Vatican, locul de unde Papa transmite binecuvântarea de Paşte. De fapt, biserica Sf Petru nu e deloc o catedrală, ci o biserică “obişnuită”, chiar dacă moştenirea sa istorică şi arhitecturală o fac [...]

Pentru Renaștere, Grecia antică era modelul suprem. Sau, pentru a folosi un concept platonic, întreaga epocă era o anamneză, procesul de reamintire a celei mai frumoase arte produse vreodata, a unei perioade cu dezbateri fecunde, într-o societate deschisă și animată de curiozitate. Astfel, când Papa i-a cerut lui Rafael, care [...]

For Renaissance, classic Greek antiquity was the ultimate model. Or, to use a Platonic concept, it was rather an anamnesis, a process of remembering the finest art produced, the fertile debates of an open and curious society. Thus, when Pope asked the 27 years old Raphael to decorate his apartments [...]

Though he appears only briefly in the Iliad, the Trojan priest Laocoon comes to represent the voice of reason. He is the one that warns the Trojans of the wooden horse trick that would lead to the destruction of the city. The Trojan war is the most important and most [...]