Raphael Rooms, Renaissance fresco cycle in Vatican Museums, Vatican City
The Raphael Rooms are four interconnected halls on the second floor of the Apostolic Palace, their walls and ceilings entirely covered with frescoes. The chambers follow one another and form a continuous path through the papal apartments.
Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael in 1508 to paint these rooms after halting work by other artists already underway. Completion of the four halls stretched over more than a decade and was finished by his pupils after Raphael's death.
The Stanza della Segnatura served as the papal library and shows on its walls the four branches of human knowledge through allegorical representations. Visitors recognize in the frescoes portraits of contemporary figures dressed as ancient thinkers.
The halls lie along a fixed route within the Vatican Museums and cannot be visited individually. Climate-controlled conditions protect the wall paintings, so visitor numbers in the rooms are limited.
Raphael painted himself into the School of Athens fresco as an observer at the right edge of the composition. In the Stanza di Eliodoro, another wall painting shows contemporary Swiss Guards in their period dress.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
