Wednesday, May 31, 2006

The Vatican, or: A whole lot of standing in line

(Originally written offline; continued from previous entry)

Monday morning we went to the Vatican, a walled city-nation that features a day's worth of sightseeing all in one compact area—not unlike Disneyworld.

The first thing one sees upon entering the Vatican is the vast Piazza San Pietro, or St. Peter's Square:

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All the standard comments apply (these pictures can't really convey the scale of this thing; the art is everywhere; the tourists are everywhere; etc.)

We first decided to check ou the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, a few other people had the same idea:

vatican-line

That picture shows about 20% of the line; it went around the corner and continued for a few blocks. I went ahead to check out what we were in for and came back several minutes later, after having counted off about 600 paces, and estimated about 2,000 people in line ahead of us. It took over an hour to get through. Not bad, considering, but I'd hate to be there on a busy day.

Once you get jnside, there's still a long wait to get into the Sistine Chapel itself. You're basically waiting in line for another hour or two, except they keep you busy by making you walk through most of the Vatican museums first, so at least you're kept entertained while waiting. There are also little Vatican bookshops along the way. As I said, a lot like Disneyworld.

Most of the art in most of the Vatican museums was unremarkable, but there were a few pieces I liked, especially this one:

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This painting (decorating a ceiling) was striking in its undisguised symbolism; the title was something like "The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism":

vatican-triumph-of-christianity-painting

This sarcophagus, and its twin, stood out because of their immense size and deep purple hue:

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And this sculpture was a little freaky just because of the colored eyes:

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However, the highlight of the Vatican Museums was the Rafael rooms, with a number of frescoes by the master, including the famous School of Athens:

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(The two robed figures in the center are Plato and Aristotle. Rafael captured in gestures the essence of their centuries-old philosophic battle: Plato points up, towards the heavens and his World of Forms; Aristotle holds his palm outstretched, facing down towards this earth.)

The Sistine Chapel, of course, upstaged everything else. Michelangelo's famous fresco is breathtaking in the scope of its composition, the stylized poses of its figures, and the life that the artist infused into each one. Nowhere else have I seen a painting with so many figures that still gives a sense of order and comprehensibility through its composition. I think that Michelangelo achieved this primarily by selecting some of the figures as primary, spacing them out a bit, and painting them larger, bolder, and brigher than the rest; the other figures recede into the background without completely disappearing. I'm thinking now primarily of the figures around the sides of the ceiling, but of course the central scenes (including the famous one of God giving life to Adam) are impressive as well. We stood for a while and soaked in as much as we could, leaving only when our brains were full and our necks stiff.

Dad and Dave took off at that point, leaving Mom and I to visit St. Peter's Basilica on our own. Like many other tourist attractions in Italy, the Basilica is huge:

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Also like many of the other attractions, the Romans filled the Basilica with art. Then they put in more art to fill in the spaces between the art. Then they added ornament to fill in the leftover spaces between the interstitial art. And anything in between the ornament is either marble, gold, or bronze.

The main attraction in the Basilica is Michelangelo's Pieta (a depiction of Mary holding the body of the dead Jesus in her arms). Unfortunately, you couldn't get within fifty feet of it, and David's camera had run out of batteries, so (using Mom's) this is the best picture I could get:

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There were four large statues adorning the central square of the church that Mom and I liked; here are a couple photos:

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After browsing the main hall, Mom and I went up the cupola, or dome. Getting up there requires climbing hundreds of steps, many of them through narrow passageways or on tight spiral staircases:

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But when you get up there, you can have a nice birds-eye view of the interior:

st-peters-basilica-looking-down-from-dome

As well as some beautiful views of the Square and of Rome beyond:

st-peters-basilica-view-of-rome

As we left, we caught a glimpse of some of the Vatican security force, the formidable Swiss Guard, outfitted in their intimidating uniforms:

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And as always, I took the time to enjoy the lovely flora and fauna of the area:

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In the evening the whole family went out to dinner in the Piazza Navona, the centerpiece of which is the Fountain of the Four Rivers, designed by Bernini:

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And then after dinner, we strolled around the Piazza della Rotunda, next to the Pantheon. The entryway to the Pantheon, with its massive Corinthian columns, is impressive, but unfortunately it was too dark to get any good pictures.

With only one more day in Rome (and in Italy), and most of our sightseeing finished, we talked about spending the next day just relaxing, away from the (enriching but taxing) history and art. The journey nearing its end, we went back to the hotel and, once again, conked out.

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