Vatican Museums, Art museum in Vatican City
The Vatican Museums are a group of art museums in Vatican City with several interconnected buildings and galleries displaying ancient sculptures, Renaissance paintings, and religious objects. The rooms spread across multiple floors and connect courtyards with long corridors filled with frescoes and marble.
A pope from the 16th century started the collection with an ancient marble group and later popes expanded it with works from across Europe. Many pieces came from Roman excavations or were purchased from noble families.
The name is plural because the institution is a group of separate museums and collections, not one gallery. The Museo Pio-Clementino, founded by Clement XIV in 1771 and enlarged by Pius VI, keeps the Greek and Roman sculpture around the Cortile del Belvedere, where the Apollo and the Laocoön have stood since the early 1500s.
You should arrive early in the morning to avoid the largest crowds and book admission online in advance. The tour can take several hours, so comfortable shoes are recommended.
A long corridor displays hand-painted maps of Italian regions from the Renaissance on its walls. The maps were painted directly onto the plaster and show mountains, rivers, and cities with surprising accuracy for their time.
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