Cappella Paolina, Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
The Cappella Paolina is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. Its single nave has a high barrel-vaulted ceiling with a central circular opening, cream-colored with molded ribs and stucco figures. Fluted gilt columns separate large painted panels along the side walls, and white angel statues holding golden candelabras stand above each column. At the far end, a raised altar area with a framed altarpiece flanked by marble columns faces two rows of dark wooden pews on a black-and-white patterned floor; an inscription panel above the altar reads "EGO SUM VIA VERITAS ET VITA".
Pope Paul III commissioned Antonio da Sangallo the Younger to build the chapel in 1538, and it was completed two years later. Michelangelo then began the wall paintings, which he finished in the following years.
The two large wall paintings by Michelangelo show scenes from the lives of two apostles and belong to his final major works. Visitors cannot see these paintings because the room remains reserved for papal liturgical ceremonies and thus preserves its original function as a private place of prayer.
The chapel is closed to the public and lies outside the Vatican Museums route, as it is the pope's private place of worship. Cardinal-electors assemble here before processing into the Sistine Chapel, and the newly elected pope prays here before appearing on the loggia of blessings. The 2002-2009 restoration, directed by Arnold Nesselrath, removed the red carpet and the 1974 oval altar arrangement, restoring the marble floor of Gregory XVI and the faux-marble wall base.
During a papal election, the cardinals gather here for a brief ceremony before walking to the neighboring Sistine Chapel to begin voting. This tradition makes the room a place where the most important decisions of the Catholic Church take their starting point.
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