Laocoön and His Sons, Hellenistic marble sculpture in Vatican Museums, Vatican City
Laocoön and His Sons is a marble group in the Pio-Clementino Museum showing three male figures and two coiled sea serpents. The bodies twist in a spiral around each other, with arms and legs crossing and faces expressing pain.
Workers discovered the group in 1506 on the Oppian Hill near the Domus Aurea and Michelangelo was present during the uncovering. Pope Julius II had the work brought to the Vatican shortly after, where it has remained ever since.
The name Laocoön comes from Greek myths and his depiction shows a moment of desperate fear of death that viewers can still relate to today. The three figures struggle together against the serpents and form a tight group that expresses both physical suffering and family bond at the same time.
The sculpture stands in its own room in the Pio-Clementino Museum and is accessible from all sides. Visitors can approach closely and view the surface from different angles to see details of the musculature and facial expressions.
The priest's right arm was missing for four hundred years until archaeologist Ludwig Pollak found it in 1906 in a Roman stonecutter's workshop. The fragment fit exactly and was attached to the main figure, restoring the original posture.
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