Borgia Apartment, Renaissance art museum in Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
The Borgia Apartment is a suite of six rooms in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, decorated by Pinturicchio and his workshop between 1492 and 1494. Painted vaults and lunettes carry the imagery, framed by gilded stucco ribs; the floors are of polychrome majolica tiles from Manises, Spain. In the Room of the Sibyls, twelve half-length sibyls and prophets stand on a deep blue ground, and the vault bears the date 1494 with the Borgia flames and radiant double crown of Aragon.
Pope Alexander VI commissioned Pinturicchio between 1492 and 1494 to paint these papal living quarters. After Alexander's death, Julius II refused to live in the chambers and moved his residence elsewhere.
Biblical scenes merge with figures from antiquity, showing saints alongside planetary symbols on the walls. This connection between worldly and sacred motifs shapes the impression of the rooms.
The six rooms form part of the Vatican Museums route and have housed the Collection of Modern Religious Art since 1973, so modern works hang beside the Pinturicchio frescoes. The suite was opened to the public in 1897 under Leo XIII. Look for the 1494 date and the Borgia flames and double Aragonese crown in the gilded stucco of the Room of the Sibyls.
One of the halls is named Sala dei Pontefici and served other purposes for centuries after papal use ended. The original function as living quarters is now fully integrated into the museum tour.
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