Rome - December 28, 2011 - Capitoline Museum

Hall of the Emperors

Right on top of the Capitoline Hill is the Capitoline Museum (go figure).

The current building were designed by Michelangelo but not finished in his lifetime. The pavement wasn’t finished until the nineteenth century, because well the Italians know that it takes a long time to do something right or wrong, or anything really, but that is all part of their irresistible charm.

The treasures seem never ending but include: two giant heads of Constantine (one bronze and one marble) hundred is not thousands of Roman statues, a complete collection of Caravaggio paintings, the Capitoline wolf (which is outside to the left of the center palace on a terrace, easy to miss if you are not looking for it) and more and more and more...


This is a must see in Rome. Amazed that I have never been before. The ticket office was in the New Palace (Palazzo Nuovo) though I think we entered the museum through the Palace opposite (the Palazzo Conservatorio). IT was rather confusing but I just followed some people with camera who looked like tourists and we seemed to make it inside. We also met some new American friends inside, though we tried to ditch them, they kept popping up all over the museum. They were rather loud, case in point:  "Oh, hey it's our friends from that place with all the rocks. Do you know where I can get a box of Franzia?" 

Capitoline Brutus or
Stone-face Vimes?

Flavian Prom Queen

For someone like me who has read so many books on Roman art and history this was akin to being that kid in the proverbial candy store. Everywhere I turned there was something I had seen photographed and catalogued. From the Capitoline Brutus (the one who overthrew Tarquin Superbus not the one who went all Joan Crawford on Julius Caesar) and the Flavian Lady with her big prom queen hair to the dying Gaul and of course the big marble head of Constantine. Which is really big. Admission is 12 Euros, or could have been a bit more? We were using the Roma Pass so we got a discount of a couple of Euros. All in all the Roma Pass saved up about twenty dollars in one day. If we had used it for public transportation as well then we would have made out like bandits, but I suppose there is too much to see in Rome to be stuck on a bus.

Tabularium

If you find yourself in this museum be sure to look at the second floor where the original 15th century decorations are still intact. They are works of art in and of themselves. The ceilings, oh my.


The hall of Emperors is filled with busts and statues of…well…emperors, and also has a fairly impressive ceiling. 

There is a treat hidden away beneath the museum; the remains of the Tabularium (the ancient roman hall of records) which is still pretty damned impressive two-thousand years later. The arches are awe inspiring and have some of the best views of the Roman Forum anywhere in the city. There is also an elevator that goes down to some excavations underneath the museum, the remains of the old citidal are visible, and a glass elevator is always fun... I am easily entertained though not a cheap date...


I could go on and on and on, there is far too much here to see in just a few hours and I could write a complete blog about it all.

Dying Gaul and weird tourist that kept muttering about "nudes"

Vatican City - December 27, 2011 - St. Peter's

St. Peter's

St. Peter's Nave

Entrance Loggia St. Peters

St. Peter's is known as the seat of the Catholic Church. It is also known for the magnificent dome designed by Michelangelo, but it's history is much much longer than that.

It all started when a shrine was built over the tomb of St. Peter in the 2nd century, then it grew and grew and grew.Sort of like the line to get in, however less then twenty minutes and we were inside.

The length of the nave is 715 feet long, the dome reaches a staggering 448 feet and the piazza enveloped in the sweeping arms of Bernini's arcade can hold thousands of worshipers.

The inside just seems so huge. It's hard to describe so here are the pictures.

Nave of St. Peter's

Dome of St. Peter's

Nave of St. Peter's

"Throne" of St. Peter by Bernini

Baldacchino by Bernini

Statue of St. Peter

Tomb by Benini
Pope Alexander VII

Facade of St. Peter's completed in 1614

Vatican City - December 27, 2011 - Vatican Museum

Sphere within a Sphere

Ancient bronze pinecone

The Vatican Museum is incredible. There is an overwhelming amount of stuff to see. One could easily spend a full day here and not actually “see” half of it.

Word of warning to anyone who wants to see the Sistine Chapel:  It is included in the ticket price to the Vatican Museums (15 euro I think? I may be wrong) unless there is severe restoration or my peeps are electing a new pope. I tried to write down how many times we were hit up for cash, asked to join a tour, told we could go to the head of the line with them or some other thing...oh I remember it was "It's a two hour wait in line for the museums, as a guide we can get you through the line". Perhaps in summer, however on the day after the day after Christmas we joined a line that was several blocks long and were in the museum in less than ten minutes.

Caveat: It did take an extra six or seven minutes to go through the metal detectors etc. No wukkas though, eh?

There are a few items that really did stand out in my memory.

Octagonal Courtyard

 First the we entered the Pine-Cone Courtyard, which contains, a pine cone...however it is from a 1st century fountain and is made of bronze. It also contains a enormous gilded sculpture called "Sphere Within a Sphere" by Arnaldo Pomodoro.

Gilt Statue Struck by lightning
and buried

Next off to the side is a little octagonal courtyard that holds some of the most famous classical sculptures including the Apollo Belvedere, the Laocoon group, and some incredible sarcophaguses.

Giant porphyry basin

Then rooms just filled with so many classical statues and busts that the mid boggleth...

Statues from Hadrian's Villa

Then there was the giant porphyry basin (which was just a masterpiece) and in the same room a gilded bronze statue that apparently was struck by lightning and then buried according to Roman custom. The huge sarcophaguses of St. Helena and St. Constantina.

Egyptian style statues from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli flank the doors of one of the Greek Cross room, at least I believe that was the Greek Cross Room.

Ceiling in the Hall of Maps

The hall of maps was much more incredible than I had expected, and certainly much longer. Also very, very crowded, if one stops for a moment one really begins to feel like a salmon heading upstream.

Not surprisingly picture taking is not allowed in the Sistine Chapel. But it was marvelous to see, especially since the restoration. Again, hard to take in as there were so many people crammed into that room, but I got to see and point out my favorite bits of the last judgement.

Outside, it was a beautiful clear December afternoon, quite warm actually. And perfect to get a nice close up shot of the Dome of St. Peter's.

The double spiral ramp that leads to the street from the museum was built in the 1930's and all I can say is WOW!

Double Spiral ramp in bronze, exit from Vatican Museum

Dome of St. Peter's from Vatican Museum

Rome/Vatican - December 27, 2011 - Which Way to the Vatican Museum?

Obelisk on Ponte Sant'Angelo

After the embankment we opted for the Ponte Sant'Angelo which leads to the former tomb of the Emperor Hadrian (now the Castel Sant'Angelo). The baroque statues of angels are fantastic and double-plus it has obelisks at each end! Yay! Don't know why (and don't get all Freudian on me) I like obelisks...and octagons.

If I remember correctly the bridge was constructed at the same time as the tomb of Hadrian. Though the arches that reach the banks on each side are newer as are the flamboyant angels all wrapped in their billowing stone draperies.

I had checked earlier and found that the entrance to the Vatican Museums are a wee bit to the north (about ten minutes or so) from the entrance to St. Peter's so we walked towards the cathedral in hopes of seeing some sort of signage...oh we did, and it confused the dribble out of me.

Your task today is to find the Vatican Museum...This image
will self destruct in...

However at that point I realized we were outside of a hotel I inspected near a decade ago and had to do the happy dance. The 14th century Hotel Columbus, right on the street that leads to St. Peter's square. When I visited (and when I sold it as a destination for pilgrims to St. Peter's) they said that it was once an ambulatory monastery and "technically" still part of the Vatican city, though I have always doubted that unless it is part of the Lateran Treaty and still part of the Holy See (such as the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore on the Esquiline hill). What I do remember is that it had delightful painted ceilings, old masters on the walls and a confusing but exciting floor plan. There were plain rooms (like monks cells) and fantastic rooms (like those for high ranking visiting clergy). I contemplated this hotel when booking but really didn't want to spend the extra money.

One thing I missed the last time I was here were the twin fountains on either side of the entrance to the hotel. Grotesque, for me undatable to a specific century, 15th? 16th? 17th?

Fountain outside Hotel Columbus

Finally after following one sign that I thought was in the right direction we were accosted by dozens of people trying to get us into the Vatican Museum on a tour, or a private tour, or a private tour with the Sistine Chapel.


Up next...dum..de..dum..dum..dum...the Vatican Museum or at least in the places we were able to take pictures and a vivid description of where we were not.