A Day in Vatican City—by Ruta (photos by Kelli except for dome photos by Ruta)

(Wednesday Morning, 3/27/19)

The first thought on everyone’s minds this morning was how tired we were. After a day of travel and two days of walking so much (10-15 miles), the aching of our joints was one of our many conversation topics over breakfast. 

Similar to the past few days, we started the day with a meeting and riding the metro to a stop much closer than our previous stops. This took us to the city-state of the Vatican. When we arrived at the museum and waited in line for a bit, we were able to enter the museum. After going through the metal detectors, we were introduced to our lovely tour guide, Sara. To start off, Sara gave us one singular earbud to connect to a radio so we could hear her better. 

We went through the art museum and were able to see a lot of famous art pieces, such as the School of Athens, or the famous torso in which the model of Jesus in the Sistine chapel is modeled after. We got to see some Dali pieces up close as well as some Matisse works. 

I learned a lot about art and art history from the museum. 

    •    Greco-Roman sculptures of people were often painted in painstaking detail. However, after a couple thousand years, this has faded away. We were able to see one statue with eyes, which was very exciting.

    •    Mosaics were almost a style of ancient pointillism. The artists would search for stones of the exact hue they needed to complete light and shadow to make their mosaic seem realistic

    •    Many of the paintings (especially ceiling and wall art) were made with the intention to appear as if they were three dimensional, with light and shadow.

The museum was so large however, that Sara said it would be impossible for us to see all of it in one day, since the Vatican museum is one of largest museum in the world. We were only able to really look at ancient works and a few modern pieces that were in a hallway we walked through. 

We next traveled to the Sistine chapel. This was connected to the Vatican museum, and after the briefing that we could not take any pictures, we ventured into the large chapel. While the intention was to focus on Jesus at the cross, as in most chapels, this was clearly not what happened. Our eyes were immediately drawn to the colors on the walls and the famous images along the walls. On one side of the chapel, the story of Moses was told (the Old Testament) and on the other, the story of Jesus was told (the New Testament). On the front wall, where we had entered from, was the famous image of Jesus judging the dead, allowing some to go into heaven and condemning some to go to hell. On the ceiling, were the stories of creation, such as god making Adam, god making Eve, the story of the forbidden fruit, as well as the famous image of god providing a soul into Adam (and image we’ve all seen millions of times). Even though I’m not Christian, I felt the significance of these images I had seen in my textbooks for so many years, and it was amazing to see them in person. 

We then ended up taking a lunch break, as it seemed to be a good time to do such, and meandered the nearby streets. 

The next item on the agenda was St. Peter’s Basilica. We were required to wait in line for this, and some of us took this opportunity to take an impromptu photo shoot, as the natural lighting and the background of the obelisks were magnificent. 

When we entered the church, the grandeur almost took my breath away. Though we had been in multiple churches, this one by far was the most spectacular. 

Starting with the large and bold Latin inscription on the very top of the immensely high ceiling (which I was able to translate some of), the ceiling was covered in renaissance style artwork. The walls were covered in enormous, imposing statutes that towered over us, and the marble was polished alongside the edges. I then found out, that it was possible to go underground into where the popes were buried. As we entered the hidden door, we found a crowd of people surrounding one specific coffin, chanting words in unison in Latin, similar to horror movies. I was sure that my trip to Italy would turn into a horror movie, but luckily, I made it out. The tombs itself were relatively simple, but carved with a model of the pope lying as if he was resting happily in peace. 

After we left the tomb, we were given the opportunity to climb to the top of the dome. This would be a journey of over five hundred difficult steps, as the walls of the dome slanted, the spirals of the staircase curled tighter, and we had to use a rope for support rather than a handrail, because there wasn’t enough space for one. But many steps later, this was all worth it, when we came to see a magnificent view of the city, one that made you feel small, yet so powerful, in that you were at the mercy of the tower holding you up but still had the willpower to bring yourself to that point. The view was incredible and absolutely worth the toil. After a struggle to get down those difficult stairs, we elatedly took some pictures as a group (as you can see in the previous post). 

We missed crossing paths with the pope because he was at the St. Peter’s basilica when we were at the Vatican museum, and he (and his “Pope-mobile,” as we called it) was at the chapel when we were at the basilica. 

Here are some (shaky and tilted pictures) from the dome:

All in all, this day was amazing, the weather was wonderful, and I was able to feel comfortable talking to people I’ve only known for four days as well as getting to know people I’ve known for longer better than before.