Vatican Museums

Lore & Background

The Vatican Museums house an immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy over centuries, featuring some of the world’s best-known Roman sculptures and most important Renaissance masterpieces. The museums contain roughly 70,000 works, with 20,000 on display, and employ 640 people across 40 administrative, scholarly, and restoration departments. The Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling and altar wall by Michelangelo, and the Stanze di Raffaello, decorated by Raphael, are on the visitor route and are considered among the most canonical works of Western art. There are 24 galleries in total, with the Sistine Chapel being the last room visited. The museums originated in the early 16th century when Pope Julius II purchased the marble sculpture *Laocoön and His Sons*—discovered in a vineyard near Santa Maria Maggiore—and put it on public display exactly one month later. The sculpture group represents the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons attacked by giant serpents. The museums include the Pinacoteca Vaticana, housing paintings by artists such as Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, and Caravaggio, and the Collection of Modern Religious Art, added in 1973, with works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Marc Chagall, and Pablo Picasso. Sculpture museums surround the Cortile del Belvedere, including the Museo Pio-Clementino, which contains the Octagonal Court with the *Apollo of the Belvedere* and *Laocoön*, the Sala Rotonda shaped like a miniature Pantheon with ancient mosaics and a gilded bronze Hercules, and the Sala delle Muse featuring the Belvedere Torso.

Reader's Guide

The Vatican Museums function as the public museum complex of Vatican City, housing a vast accumulation of artworks and artifacts assembled by the Catholic Church and the papacy over centuries. This collection includes celebrated Roman sculptures and pivotal Renaissance masterpieces. The museums hold approximately 70,000 works, with 20,000 on display, and employ 640 individuals across 40 departments dedicated to administration, scholarship, and restoration. The institution originated in the early 1500s under Pope Julius II, sparked by the discovery of the ancient marble sculpture *Laocoön and His Sons* in a vineyard near Santa Maria Maggiore. The Pope purchased the piece and placed it on public display within a month. The visitor route encompasses the Sistine Chapel, famed for Michelangelo’s ceiling and altar wall, and Raphael’s Stanze, both considered canonical works of Western art. The museums also include the Pinacoteca Vaticana, an art gallery originally housed in the Borgia Apartment until a dedicated building designed by Luca Beltrami opened in 1932, featuring works by Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Caravaggio, and others. A Collection of Modern Religious Art, added in 1973, holds pieces by artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Pablo Picasso. Several sculpture museums surround the Cortile del Belvedere, including the Museo Pio-Clementino, founded by Clement XIV and completed by Pius VI, which houses Greek and Roman sculptures in notable spaces like the Octagonal Court, Sala Rotonda, and Sala delle Muse. The museums attract millions of visitors annually, ranking second among the world’s most-visited art museums after the Louvre.

Did You Know?

• The Vatican Museums were founded by Pope Julius II in the early 16th century.
• The Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling and altar wall decorated by Michelangelo, is the last room visited in the museums.