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Vatican Museum
The present entrance to the museum, with the beautiful elliptical double ramp, was built in 1932 by Pope Pius XI. Before that there was a one mile walk to reach the museum. Above the portal are the modern statues of Michelangelo and Raphael. The Vatican has been the principal seat of the Popes for about six hundred years. You will recall that the Popes moved to Avignon in 1308 and Gregory XI returned to Rome seventy years later and established his abode in the Vatican, which was another residence of the Bishop of Rome. It was not until the time of Pope Nicholas V that a plan was made for a greatly enlarged Vatican, to be the most magnificent palace to house the princes of the Church and the myriad treasures accumulated through the centuries. Nicholas V was a great lover of learning and planned, at the same time, to rebuild the Church of St. Peter, which was later started by Julius II.
In the Hall of the Muses are the statues of the nine Muses in the Hellenistic style of the III century B.C. from a villa at Tivoli. There are also portraits of personalities from the Greek world, Socrates, Sophocles, Plato, etc. all copied by the Romans from the original Greek works. There are not many Greek originals in the Vatican; one of the few is the so called Torso Belvedere. The statue of the Torso bears the signature of a Greek sculptor from Athens, Apollonios, son of Naestor; it is probably part of a fighting figure of Hercules. It was discovered in the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, and Michelangelo was most impressed by its powerful, perfect anatomy and refused to restore it, as he had been requested to do by the Pope. In the Room of the Animals are numerous works from different times, in which animals play a role, There is a copy of the Meleager by Skopas, and the group of Mithras, the Persian god sacrificing the bull to the Sun.
These first three rooms, built by Simonetti, were added by Popes Pius VI and Pius VII in the XVII
I and XIX centuries.
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Guided tours can never afford more than two hours for this visit so we will confine our attention to the most outstanding masterpieces. We will start with the Hall of the Greek Cross where there are two magnificent porphyry sarcophagi from the IV century A.D., originally the coffins of St. Helena, mother of Constantine, the one with the battle scenes; the other is of Constance, the Emperor's daughter. On the floor is a large mosaic from Roman times. The Round Hall contains a porphyry bowl in the center, from the ruins of Nero's Golden House. On the floor is a large mosaic work from Otricoli, a place 40 miles from Rome. Also to be found in this room is the head of Jupiter, from Otricoli, ascribed to Briaxis, IV century B.C. and numerous statues of Caesars and pagan gods, the colossal, gilded bronze statue representing Hercules; and there is Antinous, the favourite of Hadrian.
