Vatican: Belvedere Palace and Sistine Chapel. Apostolic Palace, Vatican: description, photo, where it is on the map, how to get there Circumcision of the son of Moses

PALACES AND FORTRESSES IN THE SANDS OF KHOREZM Located in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, Khorezm occupied a special position in the ancient history of Central Asia. This country advanced to the north, deep into the steppes, back in the 4th century BC. e., before the campaigns of Alexander the Great, it separated from the Achaemenid power.

UNDERGROUND PALACES IN THE CHINESE “VALLEY OF THE KINGS” The city of Xi’an (Shaanxi province) is the former Chang’an, the capital of China for almost the entire 1st millennium AD. e. Enclosed by high and massive walls, this city, oriented according to the laws of ancient Chinese

ANCIENT PALACES OF SEOUL Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, has been known as the main city of the state since 1394, when the rulers of the Joseon dynasty chose it as their residence. Seoul recently celebrated its 600th anniversary, although the city is much older. Still at 18

VATICAN BUILDINGS BY DONATO BRAMANTE The importance of the Italian architect Donato Bramante for the further destinies of High Renaissance architecture is so great that often, characterizing some new style in this type of human activity, it is called

“PALACES” OF DON JUAN IN SEVILLE Seville There are cities whose very name already causes some kind of extraordinary excitement, you just have to say it out loud. The Spanish city of Seville, the city of Don Juan and Carmen, also belongs to them. The glory of the most irresistible seducer and

ROYAL PALACES OF BENIN Palaces of the city of Abomey Until 1975, the African state of Benin was called Dahomey. This “ribbon country” stretches from the south (from the Atlantic coast) to the north (to the Niger - one of the largest African rivers) for 700 kilometers. Coast

PALACES OF LACE SANA'A Palace of Imam Yahya The ancient capital of Yemen - the city of Sana'a ("rich in crafts") resembles a mirage from Scheherazade's fairy tales, bursting into this world and frozen in it. “Time stopped its run on its dusty streets, as if dozing off under the shade of evergreens.

Vatican Museums Despite its modest territory, the Vatican State owns fabulous treasures. Its museums house priceless works of art created by outstanding artists and sculptors. Vatican Museums include

VATICAN SECRETS The early 1980s in Europe were marked by the introduction of military rule in Poland, who wanted to stop the growing Solidarity trade union, and the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, who supported Lech Walesa and his organization. Ali Agca and

Which animal builds underground palaces for itself? You know these animals well, although you rarely see them. However, if you take a closer look at the ground on the slopes of ravines, on hillocks, or even in your dacha, you will see that in some places the ground seems

Chapter 23. Huts and palaces. In the footsteps of the Duchy of Courland Arvids, nicknamed the Crocodile For almost the entire 18th century, the Russian border ran approximately halfway from Riga to Jelgava, then Mitau. That is, Riga was a Russian city, and Mitava was the capital of a sovereign state.

Several magnificent monuments of architecture and art formed the basis of a grandiose complex in Rome called the Vatican Palaces. The papal apartments, Catholic government offices, museums, the Vatican Library and several chapels formed the most magnificent monument in the world.

Vatican palaces. Pages of history

It was not possible to establish the temporary starting point from which the construction of the future residence of the heads of the Catholic Church began. One version attributes the beginning of construction to Constantine the Great, another connects the Vatican palaces with the residence of the apostles from the time of Symmachus (VI century). Of course, today not a trace remains of that ancient structure: numerous reconstructions and improvements have done their job. Initially, the building acted as a temporary residence for the popes (it was permanent) during periods of visits to St. Peter's Cathedral. The small palace gradually expanded and became increasingly important for history. Thus, the emperors Otto I and Charlemagne in the 9th-10th centuries were crowned to rule the state precisely in the Vatican Council. In the era of Leo IV, the papal palace was surrounded by a fortress wall, which gave the complex the name “City of Leo”. True, subsequent centuries had a devastating impact on the building, and Popes Celestino III and Eugene III had to carry out significant restoration of the structure.

The project to transform the building into the permanent residence of the heads of the church was initiated in the 13th century by Pope Innocent III. First of all, the permanent residence of the holy men had to be well fortified. In this regard, the project was based on already existing defensive structures: the fortress walls of the city of Leo and the Castel Sant'Angelo, associated with the palace, the so-called Borgo Corridor of the times of Pope Nicholas III. But another century would pass before the palace in Rome became the official papal residence.

The end of the popes' exile in France was marked by the return of Gregory XI to Rome in 1377. Since then, the Vatican became his permanent place of residence. The next two centuries passed in constant rebuilding and reconstruction of the papal home. Under Nicholas V in 1450, the residence was expanded: preserving all the existing buildings, a grandiose palace was erected, and the Parrot's courtyard was inscribed in its square. The new Vatican Palace boasted a huge number of halls, the interior decoration of which was carried out by Piero della Francesca and Andrea del Castagno, and the Chapel of Nicholas V, decorated with frescoes with scenes from the lives of Saints Lawrence and Stephen Beato Angelico. The halls on the first floor with access to the courtyard became the Vatican Library, which was founded in 1451. True, 20 years later, the new Pope Sixtus IV commissioned the re-decoration by Ghirlandaio and Melozzo da Forli, finding a different use for the halls of the Vatican Library.
And in 1473, Giovanni de Dolce received from Pope Sixtus IV the task of building a chapel, later named, worthy of papal services. Representatives of the Umbrian art school, including Sandro Botticelli, Perugino and Pinturicchio, worked on the interior decoration of the chapel in 1481–1483, completing two cycles about the lives of Jesus and Moses.

The work of Nicholas V was completed by Alexander VI Borgia, on whose orders the Borgia Apartments were built in the 15th century. They consisted of six halls, three of which were “sheltered” by the Apostolic Palace, and three belong to the Borgia Tower, the decoration of which was entrusted to Pinturicchio and his students. All new halls were named according to the frescoes that decorated them:

• The Prophets and Sibyls of the Hall of Sibyls display the prediction of the coming of the savior;
• Figures of prophets and apostles decorate the Hall of the Creed, dedicated to Christianity;
• The Hall of Liberal Arts was “given” frescoes depicting the Quamrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music) and Trivia (rhetoric, grammar, dialectic) by Antonio da Viterbo;
• The Hall of Saints houses frescoes by Pinturicchio depicting scenes from the lives of Christian martyrs and saints;
• The Halls of the Miracles of the Faith and the Pontiffs are decorated with frescoes and sculptures by Perin del Vaga, Giovanni da Udine.

By order of Inoccent VIII, the Belvedere Palace was also erected next to the Vatican. But the most large-scale transformations awaited the Vatican complex during the time of Pope and philanthropist Julius II, who instructed Bramante to carry out the unification of the palaces of Innocent VIII and Nicholas V. The result of the work carried out was the Belvedere Courtyard. The perspective of the courtyard (instead of the escedra with two staircases made earlier by Bramante) is blocked by a niche created by Pirro Ligorio in 1560. The loggias in the Courtyard of San Damaso, decorated with frescoes by Raphael, were also designed by Julius II. Thanks to the reconstruction, the facade of the Apostolic Palace began to overlook St. Peter's Square. And it was under Julius II that Michelangelo decorated the vault of the Sistine Chapel with his frescoes in 1509 - 1512, and Raphael in 1508 - 1524. was engaged in painting Stanzas (ceremonial halls).

The primacy of Pope Sixtus V occurred in the Baroque era, when Dominico Fontana created a modern residence, and the Belvedere was “cut” by the Transverse Courtyard. The construction of the Regge Staircase and the Paolina Halls, designed by Bernini, began in the 17th century during the reign of Pope Urban VIII. In the next century, work was carried out to create museums: the Museums of Church and Secular Art, the Chiaramonti Museum and the Pio Clementino Museum appeared. Already in the 20th century, under Pius XII, archaeological research was carried out under St. Peter's Basilica, and under John XXIII, the construction of new museum halls for the collection of the Lateran Palace began.

Description of the Vatican Palaces complex

Considering the long period of creation, the complex cannot be a complete monument of architecture and art. It is a collection of palaces, chapels, halls, galleries and courtyards belonging to different historical eras and architectural styles, preserving real treasures of sculpture, mosaic art and painting. The palace itself today has about 200 staircases, 20 courtyards and 12,000 different rooms.

The irregular quadrangle of the Vatican Palace stretches in an oblique direction from south to north from the columns of St. Peter. Two galleries connecting the Old Vatican with the Belvedere form the western and eastern longitudinal facades. Transverse galleries (Braccio Nuovo and Library Gallery) divide the space into 3 courtyards. The courtyard closest to the Vatican is called Belvedere, and the Giardino della Pigna garden is laid out in the third courtyard further away. By the way, this is not the only garden in the complex. On the hillside not far from the Villa of Pius IV, built by Pirro Ligorio, there is a garden called Girardino Pontifico.

Ancient part of the Apostolic Palace

Not far from the equestrian statue of Constantine is the main entrance to the Apostolic Palace. The main staircase with an Ionic colonnade leads to the Royal Hall, which serves as a kind of vestibule for the Pauline and Sistine chapels. The truly royal decoration of the Hall itself are the frescoes of Salviatti, Vasari, the Zucchero brothers, Sammachini and Sicchiolante. But Michelangelo’s frescoes “The Crucifixion of the Apostle Peter” and “The Conversion of the Apostle Paul” of the Pauline Chapel suffered quite badly from the soot of candles, because Easter services are still held here today.

The second floor is famous for its halls and loggias, painted by Raphael. The Hall of Constantine leads into the Hall of Chiaroscuro, from which you can enter the gallery of boxes on one side, and the Chapel of San Lorenzo on the other side. True, the main road to the gallery of lodges remains the magnificent staircase of 118 steps leading from the Courtyard of San Domaso.

The oldest part of the complex also includes some of the Vatican Museums. Thus, back in the 19th century, behind the Raphael Lodges, in five halls on the third floor, the Vatican Art Gallery was located, and in 1908, one wing of the Belvedere Palace was enriched with the Vatican Pinacoteca.

The audience hall and personal apartments of the Pope are located on the side of the Cathedral of St. Peter's around the Court of San Domaso.

Vatican palaces. Galleries

They have Vatican palaces and their own galleries. The Braccio Nuovo and Bramante galleries are the most famous Vatican galleries, dedicated to the Chiaramonti Museum. On each side, the Bramante Gallery is divided into 30 parts, furnished with bas-reliefs, busts and statues of Caesar, Ciciro, Tiberius and others. The Braccio Nuovo Gallery stores busts and statues of Trajan, Augustus, Titus, Hadrian, Mark Antony and other personalities. Just one grille separates the Chiaramonti Museum in the south from the Museum of Inscriptions, founded by Pius VII and housing more than 3,000 exhibits.

The western part of the Bramante Gallery is truly replete with museums, among which stand out: the Cabinet of Papyri, the Museum of Sacred Objects, the Museum of Secular Objects and the Numismatic Cabinet. On the second floor (Arazzi Gallery) are collected precious carpets depicting the apostles based on paintings by Raphael.

Vatican palaces. Belvedere Palace

There are two entrance halls leading to the Pius Clemente Museum, located in the Belvedere Palace. The round one offers a magnificent panorama of the Eternal City, and the quadrangular one is famous for the torso of Hercules. The Hall of Mileagre with a statue of a hunter from myths is located near the circular vestibule. From here you can enter the octagonal courtyard, surrounded by a portico with 16 granite columns. Under the portico itself, antique bas-reliefs, fonts, sarcophagi and altars found their place. And in the niches, for many decades, Apollo Belvedere, Canova’s Perseus, Laocoon with his sons and Mercury have been showing off.

From the courtyard you can enter the gallery of Statues with Sleeping Ariadne and Cupid Praxiteles, then, through the Hall of Beasts, into the Hall of Muses in the shape of an octagon supported by 16 marble columns. Next comes the Round Hall with a dome supported by 10 marble columns and antique mosaics from Otricoli. Here you can admire the red porphyry pool, which amazes not only with its beauty, but also with its size. To the south of the hall is the Hall of the Greek Cross with sarcophagi of Saints Constance and Helen made of red porphyry.

From here you can go to the main museum staircase, created by Simonetta, and from it to the Egyptian and then the Etruscan museums, founded by Pius VII and Gregory XVI, respectively. The museum's staircase, in turn, leads to the Giardino della Pigna, named after the bronze fountain in the shape of a cone, located in a niche at the end of the building.

The grand complex of the Vatican Palaces is today considered the most significant architectural ensemble for humanity in the whole world, and the greatness of the treasures collected here can plunge any connoisseur of beauty into “sacred” awe for a long time.

This is the smallest country in the world. Here, on an area of ​​44 hectares, surrounded on all sides by the former capital of the world, only a few hundred people live, and yet the head of this state, to one degree or another, controls the souls of more than a billion earthlings, a fifth of the total population of the third planet from the Sun. Blogger Darriuss talks about the structure of the Vatican, which has just received its new pope.

Once upon a time here, on a small hill occupying the bank of the Tiber River opposite the famous Roman seven hills, there was a temple of the Etruscan god of prophecies Vagitanus. It was in its place in 40 AD, just 7 years after the legendary crucifixion in Jerusalem of one Jewish guide known as Jesus, in the then suburb of the Eternal City, Emperor Caligula began the construction of a huge circus, an arena for the very spectacles for which Rome was famous. The construction was completed under Caligula's successor - the no less notorious Emperor Nero, and therefore now it is known as Circus Gaii et Neronis or simply Nero's Circus. The plan clearly shows that the circus, and indeed the entire Mons Vaticanus (Vatican Hill), was located outside the borders (and, accordingly, the walls) of Rome and was not included in the city limits. Pay attention to the marked cemetery next to the arena; it will in the future play a vital role in the history of the Vatican and the Catholic Church.

It was in Nero's circus, starting in 65, that original, by today's standards, performances began to be staged, which at that time were very popular among free Romans. In its arena, decorated with an obelisk brought from the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, heretics were systematically and very sophisticatedly killed, including the followers of the above-mentioned Jewish preacher, called Christians. In 67, the turn came to the closest disciple of Jesus named Peter, who by that time had been elected the first bishop of the capital of the empire, the head of the Roman Christian community. Peter was crucified right in the center of the circus, near the obelisk. Moreover, according to legend, they hung him upside down from the cross. This was the apostle’s own initiative - he decided that he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way as his teacher (that is, head up). After such a martyrdom of the apostle, Peter's followers removed his body from the cross and buried him in a cemetery under the walls of the circus. Circus of Nero in a 1699 engraving by Pietro Santi Bartoli.

It was the location of St. Peter’s tomb that later played a decisive role in the construction of the main temple of the Christian world. By the fourth century AD, the hobbies of the Romans had changed somewhat, the city itself and the empire of which it was the capital began to decline, and with them Nero’s Circus degenerated. This is roughly what it looked like by the fourth century AD, when Emperor Constantine the Great decided to build a large basilica on the site of the supposed death and burial of the Apostle Peter. By that time, Christianity had gained popularity and from a relatively intimate sect had grown into an influential religion that the imperial government could not ignore. The ancient necropolis is clearly visible at the top of this reconstruction.

Construction of the Basilica of St. Peter's began around 322 AD and lasted approximately 30 years, with the Vatican Hill largely razed to construct its foundation. It is believed that the temple was built in such a way that the grave of St. Peter was just under his altar. This fact and the need to turn the cathedral with its façade towards the city determined its exotic orientation: the apse was located in the west, and the entrance in the east (usually everything was done the other way around, the mass was served ad orientem, that is, facing the east). Experts were able to recreate the original appearance of the so-called Old Basilica, the predecessor of the cathedral that has survived to this day. The temple had a very typical appearance for early Christian churches. In front of the facade of the five-nave building there was a courtyard surrounded by an arcaded colonnade, the so-called Garden of Eden. Pay attention to the fortress wall with numerous towers, visible in the background of the illustration - this is the so-called Leonin Wall, which surrounded the cathedral and its immediate surroundings in the 9th century in order to protect them from attacks by the Saracens (that is, Muslim Arabs, who captured and who sacked Rome). It has partially survived to this day and with its individual fragments it marks the modern borders of the Vatican City state.

Section of the Old Basilica. The 42 columns that supported the vaults of the building were borrowed from ancient Roman pagan temples (is it any wonder that they have survived so poorly to this day). The temple, 110 meters long and shaped like a Latin cross, could accommodate 3-4 thousand believers, and it was here that Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the West in 800. Who knows, if the building had been built better, perhaps this is how the main cathedral of the Catholic Church would look today.

However, by the 15th century, the basilica, which had existed for 11 centuries (more than 1100 years!), had noticeably degraded, which was greatly facilitated by the fact that from 1309 to 1377 the residence of the popes was in French Avignon. Upon returning to Rome, the pontiffs found that the city (and the first St. Peter's Cathedral with it) was extremely neglected and was in need of major repairs. According to eyewitnesses: “The church and monastery of this name were in complete desolation. There were only a few monks left. In the ancient basilica, travelers cooked meat and vegetables over fires and ate them right away. At night, shepherds drove bulls and buffaloes here.”. The central nave of the basilica stood without a roof.

Under Pope Nicholas V, a grandiose reconstruction of Rome began in the 1450s, his heirs continued it (in particular, under Sixtus IV, a new chapel was built next to St. Peter's Cathedral, now known as the Sistine Chapel), Rome began to be called the city of architects and artists. This, however, did not save the original temple of the Apostle Peter. Under Pope Julius II at the beginning of the 16th century, it became obvious that the thousand-year-old building could no longer be saved. The decision to demolish it was not easy for the pope and shocked his contemporaries, but in those conditions it was the only possible one - the deviation of the walls of the building from the vertical in some areas was up to two meters. The basilica still resisted wind loads, but the first noticeable earthquake (not uncommon in the vicinity of Rome) would be its last.

In the end, all the major Italian architects of the 16th century took part in the construction of the new cathedral, which would have no equal in either the Christian or pagan worlds. The first to be implemented was the project of Donato Bramante in 1506, who proposed a structure in the form of an equilateral Greek cross with a centric composition.

The crosshairs were to be crowned with a grandiose dome, and the entire building was to resemble ancient temples.

After Bramante's death in 1514, the construction of the cathedral experienced some chaos. At first it was led by the famous Raphael Santi, who returned to the traditional Catholic form of the Latin cross (with one elongated side). Then Baldassare Peruzzi again proposed a centric composition, and in 1534 the next chief architect, the so-called capomaestro Antonio da Sangalla, again revived the Latin cross. So the Cathedral of St. Petra was supposed to look like the latter's imagination. The first thing that catches your eye is the two tall bell towers flanking the central dome.

But Sangallo also died in 1546, having managed to erect only the southern and eastern sides of his building, after which the management of the work passed to Michelangelo, who again abandoned the elongated composition and returned to Bramante’s original central dome system. The great man of the Renaissance was already over 70, but he still defended his ideas with his characteristic enthusiasm. Despite the fact that Michelangelo did not live to see the completion of construction, his idea was, by and large, realized. Only the dome, completed by 1590 by Giacomo della Porta, received a slightly more elongated shape than Michelangelo proposed.

However, as it turned out, in the near future the original plan of the outstanding architect was still significantly distorted. Pope Paul V decided that the new, just completed building was not spacious enough, after which he ordered an additional three-nave basilica with a new grandiose façade to be added to Michelangelo’s centric temple. These works were carried out in 1607-1614. architect Carlo Maderna, and in general, a little more than 100 years after the start of construction, St. Peter's Cathedral acquired an appearance close to modern. Painting by Viviano Codazzi from 1630.

Maderna's extension eventually gave the building the shape of an elongated Latin cross, traditional for Catholic churches. At the same time, Maderna irrevocably violated the unity and integrity of the composition of the cathedral, since its huge dome completely lost its dominant position. Now, being in front of the entrance to the temple, visitors could not see the dome at all or saw it only partially. The outstanding engineering structure of the Renaissance was completely overwhelmed by the lavishly decorated massive main façade of Maderna.

The full grandeur of the building can only be appreciated from afar, for example, from the Castel Sant'Angelo, the former mausoleum of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Only at such a distance is the artistic image of the most significant building of the era, invented by a whole galaxy of major Renaissance architects, visible holistically and in full.

But Pope Paul V, presumably, was pleased. The capacity of St. Peter's Basilica eventually reached 60,000 people, an unprecedented figure not only for the 17th century, but also for the 21st century. Interior of the Maderna Annex in a 1750 painting by Giovanni Paolo Panini.

Construction of the building lasted just over a century, from 1506 to 1614. Despite the frequent change of capomaestro architects and the periodic suspension of work, this is a meager period for an era when the construction of huge cathedrals dragged on for several hundred years. Generous funding for the project also played a role: the popes spent more than 45 million gold ducats on the main temple of the Christian world (according to some estimates, the equivalent of about 6.5 billion modern dollars).

The dome, supported by four powerful columns, has a height at the top of 119 meters and a diameter of 42 meters.

The new St. Peter's Basilica was much larger than the original Old Basilica. Nevertheless, the Italian architects of the Renaissance retained the basic idea of ​​the unknown authors of the first temple - its center was still the tomb of St. Petra. In this comparative plan, the contours of Nero's Circus are indicated in gray at the bottom, the Old Basilica is indicated by a solid black line, and the modern Cathedral of St. Petra. The location of the apostle's grave in relation to all three structures is shown.

Above it, directly under the main dome, is the main altar of the building, decorated with a tall (29 meters, four-story building!) canopy, the first (1633) work for the cathedral by Giovanni Bernini, who took over the baton from Maderna as a capomaestro.

Bernini's canopy is an outstanding work of decorative and applied art from the next era - Baroque. The unusual shape of its columns repeats the silhouette of a twisted column from the Temple of Solomon, brought to Rome after the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders.

Here in front of him is the staircase to the tomb of St. Peter. This descent is called Confessio - a kind of window in the confessional, through which believers could turn directly to the shrine, where the relics of the first of the apostles are located. In 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that the remains of a 60- to 70-year-old man found at the site during excavations back in the 1950s had somehow been identified as the remains of St. Petra.

Under this floor is the tomb of the first Roman bishop, from whom 265 Roman popes trace their succession. It’s hard to imagine that 1950 years ago there was an ordinary cemetery here, and next to it stood an ancient circus, where thousands of people died, and some of them even glorified Caesar.

After the completion of the cathedral, the focus of attention of the popes was the creation of a worthy square in front of it, which would correspond in scale and architectural surroundings to both the temple and the number of believers that could be on it. The formation of its architectural ensemble was entrusted to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, which he successfully did in 1656-1667. According to the architect's plan, the square was to consist of two halves. The first was shaped like a trapezoid, expanding towards the facade of the cathedral and visually increasing its height, while reducing its width. The second half was a giant ellipse, bounded on the south and north by monumental colonnades. Note the solid white line connecting the outer sides of the colonnades on the city side (in the lower right corner) - this is the border separating the two countries: Italy and the Vatican.

In the center of the ellipse, on the central axis of the Cathedral of St. Peter, the same obelisk from Heliopolis was installed, taken in 36 by order of Caligula from Egypt and originally installed in the circus of Nero. The obelisk, with a total height of 40 meters, is nicknamed “The Witness”, since it is believed that it was here that the Apostle Peter was executed.

On both sides of the obelisk, on an axis perpendicular to the central one, two fountains were built, balancing the composition as a whole.

General view of the square, named, like the cathedral, in honor of the first Roman bishop. According to Bernini's plan, the entire composition was supposed to resemble hands, as if hugging believers and inviting them to the temple.

For 300 years, the square abutted a solid wall of medieval houses and Renaissance palazzos that separated it from the Tiber and the historical center of Rome. Photo from 1900.

All these 300 years, architects hatched plans to create a wide promenade that would open the cathedral to the river and serve as a ceremonial approach to it. Here is one of the projects.

The idea was only realized under the bloody regime of Mussolini. By the strong-willed decision of the dictator, through the medieval quarters and the historical network of streets in the direction of the castle of St. Angel and the bridge over the Tiber of the same name, the desired avenue was finally broken through, and now very picturesque and soul-saving vistas open up from the dome of the cathedral. So, the “narrow crooked streets” dear to the hearts of tourists and indigenous residents were destroyed not only in the Soviet Union, cutting through the New Arbat (in Moscow) or the new Nemiga (in Minsk). The urban good was placed above the nostalgic, touching antiquity even in completely civilized European countries (although under not quite civilized regimes). What is typical is that there, too, this caused fierce, frantic resistance from local historians and other concerned public.

The project was carried out in 1936-1950, that is, it ended even after Mussolini was shot in triumph. Its implementation began shortly after the conclusion of the so-called Lateran Agreements, which formalized relations between Italy and the new Vatican City state in 1929. A conflict during which the popes declared themselves “prisoners of the Vatican” for 59 years (1870-1929), refusing to leave it in protest against the liquidation of the Papal State, the formation of a united Italy and the usurpation of property seemingly given by God to the pontiffs , was successfully resolved. For this reason, the new avenue was named Via della Conciliazione (that is, “Street of Reconciliation”).

Cathedral of St. Petra was now perfectly visible directly from the Tiber. Nevertheless, architectural “Nazis” and other architectural purists continue to be indignant, because in addition to the grid of old quarters, Bernini’s curious plan was also destroyed. According to the idea of ​​the creator of St. Peter's Square, it should have completely unexpectedly, with its grandiose open space and monumental ensemble of buildings, attacked a traveler wandering along those same narrow, crooked streets. Like, a pilgrim is walking, suspects nothing, and then suddenly he comes across a huge piazza with an even more breathtaking cathedral on it, from which he is additionally filled with high feelings. With the creation of Reconciliation Street, such a stunning effect was no longer achievable. A person begins to prepare in advance for contemplation of the Vatican’s beauties.

St. Peter's Cathedral with the adjacent square of the same name is, of course, the main architectural structures of the Vatican. This plan shows their relationship in location and scale in relation to the Circus of Nero (highlighted in olive) and the Old Basilica (brown dotted line), which once occupied approximately the same place.

But the architectural content of the Vatican, of course, is not limited to the cathedral and the square. Despite the limited territory of the dwarf state (the Vatican’s 44 hectares are, for comparison, slightly larger than the area of ​​Komsomolskoe Lake in Minsk) and the fact that more than half of it is occupied by gardens, parks and other lawns, they managed to place several dozen more buildings here that perform completely different functions. functions and often not uninteresting in appearance. Actually, thanks to them, the Vatican can be considered a full-fledged, albeit somewhat peculiarly functioning state.

Let's look at a computer axonometry of the country. Its most important buildings and structures are signed with numbers.

1 - St. Peter's Basilica, 2 - St. Peter's Square with obelisk and fountains, 3 - Apostolic Palace with the Papal Apartments, 4 - Sistine Chapel, 5 - Belvedere Palace, occupied by the Vatican Museums, 6 - Apostolic Library, 7 - Braccio Nuova, 8 - Pinakothek, 9 - barracks of the Swiss Guard, 10 - barracks of the Pontifical Gendarmerie, 11 - post office, 12 - supermarket, 13 - pharmacy, 14 - Palace of the Holy Office, 15 - audience hall named after Paul VI, 16 - house of St. Martha (papal hotel), 17 - Church of St. Stephen, 18 - railway station, 19 - Governor's Palace, 20 - Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 21 - Old Gardens, 22 - New Gardens, 23 - Mater Ecclesiae monastery (new residence of Pope Benedict XVI), 24 - Vatican Radio, 25 - Abyssinian Seminary , 26 - heliport.

In addition to the cathedral and the colonnades surrounding Piazza San Pietro, tourists secondarily pay attention to the rather chaotic complex of buildings hanging over the northern colonnade. This is the so-called Apostolic Palace, where, in addition to museum premises, the Pope also lives inside. See the top right corner of the building? The windows on the third floor are his!

The previous pope, Benedict XVI, addresses his flock from the window of his private apartment.

It’s interesting that dads didn’t always live here. Not counting the Avignon captivity, for a long period, when Rome was still the capital of the Papal State, and not of a united Italy, their residence was in the Roman Quirinal Palace on the hill of the same name. Now it is the official residence of the President of Italy.

Another permanent residence of the popes is the Lateran Palace next to the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. By the way, not all tourists know, but it is the official cathedral of the Roman diocese, of which the pope is the bishop. At the Cathedral of St. Peter has no cathedral status. However, in fact, the diocese has long been managed on a daily basis by a specially appointed vicar general, whose services are now partly occupied by the Lateran Palace. The latter, unlike the Quirinal, still belongs to the Holy See and has extraterritorial status within Italy. Such a Vatican enclave.

Currently, the private Papal Apartments (this does not include official rooms for receiving distinguished guests, etc.) consist of about 10 rooms, including a private office, bedroom, dining room, living room, kitchen, library and even a medical ward. They occupy the third floor of the so-called Palace of Sixtus V and overlook both the square of St. Peter, and into the courtyard. The pope lives in these rooms all year round, with the exception of the especially hot months in Rome from July to September, during which he moves to his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo near Rome.

For example, this is what the office of Pope Benedict XVI looked like. After the change of pontiff, the apartments are renovated in accordance with the tastes of the new Vicar of Christ. For example, Benedict XVI wished to have at hand all 20,000 volumes of the library he had collected, for which a special room was equipped.

The buildings of the Apostolic Palace do not represent a single whole. They were built at different times under different popes and now form a rather chaotic jumble of volumes, mainly from the 15th-16th centuries.

The complex even contains fragments of defensive fortifications, such as this Borgia Tower, built under popes who came from this odious Italian family. The history of the papacy has almost never been peaceful.

Most of these rooms are now used for museum purposes, such as these so-called “Raphael's Stanzas,” four relatively small rooms painted by Raphael Santi and his students. These were once the personal apartments of Pope Julius II (the same one who initiated the construction of the new St. Peter's Cathedral), and now they are used to display Raphaelite frescoes.

Secular premises are densely surrounded by religious buildings. There are several chapels and churches around and inside the Apostolic Palace. The most famous of them, of course, is the Sistine Chapel, decorated with paintings by Michelangelo, that sworn friend of Raphael. A rather small house church was built in 1473-1481. commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV (hence its name) and outwardly it does not strike the imagination. Like many Italian medieval churches, its exterior is extremely modest.

But thanks to the genius of Michelangelo, the chapel produces a completely different effect from the inside. It is here that papal conclaves are traditionally held, including the one that just ended.

Probably the most famous fresco from the Sistine Chapel is The Creation of Adam.

Like most other rooms of the palace, the chapel is now actually a museum. The latter, or rather a whole set of various museums, is occupied by the so-called Belvedere Palace, a fairly large complex of buildings north of the Apostolic Palace. Its general appearance can be seen from the dome of St. Peter's (in the lower right corner of the Sistine Chapel). This is a long rectangle with two lintels-galleries, forming several courtyards at once. Its construction began at the end of the 15th century under Innocent VIII and consistently continued under almost a dozen popes who followed Innocent.

Near the Cathedral of St. Peter's courtyard, the Belvedere, once held tournaments and hosted other events to entertain the pontiffs. Now it is occupied by a huge parking lot. The buildings surrounding the courtyard, once occupied by various papal institutions, now house the Vatican Museums.

For example, this is what the so-called “Card Gallery” looks like.

Once upon a time, the buildings of the Belvedere Palace formed a square around a single courtyard, but already in 1587 the building of the Apostolic Library was built across it, which destroyed the original composition.

Sistine Salon of the Vatican Library. Currently, its holdings include about 1,600,000 printed books, 150,000 manuscripts, 8,300 incunabula, more than 100,000 engravings and geographical maps, 300,000 coins and medals - the richest collection formed over the two millennia of the papacy.

The second courtyard is the so-called Garden della Pigna (Pigna is Italian for “cone”), named after the fountain, made in the shape of a giant bronze cone.

It has been in this place since 1608, and was cast in the first or second century AD by the master Publius Cincius Salvius, who left his name at the base of the most colossal cone on the planet.

The southern side of the Garden della Pigna is formed by the so-called “Braccio Nuovo” (left), another gallery-lintel, built only in 1822. There is an art object installed in front of it, the so-called “Sphere inside the Sphere”. As we see, contemporary art is not alien to the Vatican.

Although, of course, the main content of the Vatican Museums is classical art. The value of the exhibits displayed in the endless suites of halls of the Belvedere Palace is difficult to soberly imagine.

To the west of the palace are the separate (and much later built) Pinakothek (art gallery, foreground, 1932) and the Ethnological Missionary Museum (1960s, above).

At least the Pinakothek quite successfully imitates the Belvedere of the 16th century, although it was built 400 years later.

The endlessly rich Vatican Museums enjoy enduring popularity among the tourist public, who regularly form mind-blowing queues of people wishing to touch the beauty. At the same time, this is a very significant source of income for the Holy See.

The Vatican is no stranger not only to modern art, but also to architecture and technology. In 1971, the outstanding Italian architect and engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, personally commissioned by Pope Paul VI, designed a huge, ultra-modern auditorium with 6,500 seats or 12,000 standing seats. The building is made of monolithic reinforced concrete with a characteristic curved shape and is intended for holding general audiences of the Pope and other public events. It is interesting that the stage with the throne of the pontiff is still on Vatican territory, and the main part of the hall is on Italian territory. Moreover, the latter has extraterritorial status.

In 2007, the roof of the structure was equipped with 2,400 solar panels. The electricity they generate is sufficient to satisfy all the needs of the building.

The audience named after them is especially impressive. Paul VI looks from the inside, where the complex curvilinear shape of the vault is emphasized by the rhythm of the rows of lamps.

Next to this hall is the papal inn, named after the House of Saint Martha. The six-story building in the shape of the letter “H” was erected in 1996 on the initiative of John Paul II specifically to accommodate guests of the Holy See and especially members of the College of Cardinals during conclaves. Their rules require a compact and at the same time isolated from the outside world residence of all participants in the election of the new pontiff.

Previously, cardinals were locked (sometimes literally walled up) in the Sistine Chapel, where they were forced to live in extremely cramped conditions. With the increase in the number of cardinal electors, the monastery cells available in the chapel complex were no longer enough for them. As a result, elderly (and often not in good health) people were settled in temporary quarters, sometimes separated by ordinary sheets, several people in one room. All this, rather, resembled the life of a hostel, and although, of course, sometimes contributed to the speedy completion of the conclave, it still did not meet the requirements of the time. John Paul II, having participated in two such conclaves before being elected pope, decided to spare his heirs from such an extreme experience. On the site of an old hospital, built for cholera patients at the end of the 19th century, a building, modest in appearance and interior, was erected, which solved the problem of the comfort of the cardinal electors and at the same time made it possible to properly deal with the issue of their isolation during the election of the head of the church.

This is certainly not a five star hotel. Everything is modest in a monastic way, but these Spartan conditions cannot be compared with those that previously existed in the Sistine Chapel. The building has 106 suites, two-room apartments, 22 single rooms and 1 apartment, where the pope is moved after his election and where he lives until the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace are renovated. The photo shows a bedroom in a standard two-room suite.

The most important and ancient building of the Vatican is the Apostolic Palace, otherwise called the Papal Palace or the Vatican Palace. Since the fourteenth century, this has been the official residence of the Pope at the Vatican. Officially it is called the Palace of Sixtus V.

The Vatican Palace is not one building and is not made in one style. The complex of buildings of the Apostolic Palace includes government offices of the Roman Catholic Church, the Papal Apartments, the Vatican Library, Vatican museums, and some chapels. On the third floor of the Papal Palace there are rooms for official meetings, including the Consistory Hall, the Pope's office, the Clementine Hall, the Great and Small Throne Rooms, the papal library, and rooms for private audiences. The premises of the papal secretariat are located on the fourth floor.

More than a thousand rooms of the palace have gained worldwide fame thanks to the placement of the greatest works of art. This Stanzas of Raphael, Sistine Chapel with the famous ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo (restored in 1980/90).

Before the capital of Italy was transferred to Rome in 1871, the pope's summer residence was located in the Quirinal Palace. Another papal residence was the Lateran Palace; the summer country residence is located in the town of Castel Gandolfo.

Story

No one has exact information about when the construction of the Vatican Palace began. Some historians attribute it to Constantine the Great, while others date the original construction to the period of Pope Symmachus (sixth century). What is certain is that the palace on Vatican Hill served as the residence of Pope Leo III during Charlemagne's visit to Rome for his coronation. Over time, the palace fell into disrepair, and the pope's residence was moved to the Lutheran Palace. From the moment the popes returned from Avignon (1377), the Vatican turned into a permanent papal residence, and a whole series of grandiose buildings contributed to its expansion.

The famous Sistine Chapel was created under Sixtus IV (1471). The Belvedere Palace was erected near the Vatican under Innocent VIII in 1490. The architect Donato Bramante, on behalf of Pope Julius II (1503), connected it with the Vatican with two magnificent galleries. Bramante began to create lodges surrounding the courtyard of Saint Damase. Later they were completed and painted by Raphael and his students. The Pauline Chapel and the Royal Hall located next to it were built by Pope Paul III.

During the reigns of Pius IV and Gregory XIII, the eastern and northern wings of the lodges emerged. The transverse gallery, which houses the Vatican Apostolic Library, was built by Sixtus V. The Pius-Clement Museum was founded by Clement XIV and Pius VI. The Chiaramonti Museum was founded by Pius VII, who also conducted the Braccio Nuovo - the second transverse gallery (1817-1822). The Egyptian and Etruscan Museums were founded by Pope Gregory XVI. The fourth wall of the courtyard of St. Damasus was built during the reign of Pope Pius IX, at which time the Raphael Lodge was covered with a glass roof.

Exterior of the palace

The Papal Palace is not a homogeneous architectural whole; this is a complex of palaces, chapels, halls, galleries, which in time and style belong to different eras and contain an inimitable collection of treasures of painting, sculpture, and architecture. The unique architectural ensemble includes up to twenty courtyards, twelve thousand rooms, two hundred staircases. The appearance is an irregular quadrangle, stretching obliquely from south to north from St. Peter's Church. Two galleries connecting the old Vatican and the Belvedere form the eastern and western longitudinal facades.

Two transverse galleries: Library and Braccio Nuovo, the free space between the galleries is divided into three courtyards. Near the Vatican, the courtyard is called Belvedere. On the hillside, to the west of the palace that houses the villa of Pope Pius IV, created by Pirro Ligorio, is the second large garden of Girardino Pontifico. The Giardino della Pigna garden is located in the third courtyard.

South side of the palace

The main entrance is located on the right wing of the Colonnade of St. Peter, near the equestrian statue of Constantine the Great. Decorated with a magnificent Ionic colonnade, the central staircase leads to the Sala Regia - the Royal Hall, which serves as the vestibule for the Pauline and Sistine chapels. The royal hall is decorated with beautiful frescoes by Vasari, Sicchiolante, the Zucchero brothers, Sammachini, and Salviati.

The Pauline Chapel is distinguished by the presence of two frescoes by Michelangelo: “The Crucifixion of St. Peter" and "Conversion of the Apostle Paul", significantly damaged by the effects of soot from wax candles. On the bright days of Easter, services are held here. On the second floor there are the well-known boxes of Raphael, four halls - Stanzas of Raphael, painted on behalf of Julius II, Leo X by Raphael and his students.

The Hall of Constantine leads to the hall of chiaroscuro - Sala de Chiroscuri, from where there is an exit on one side to the Gallery of Lodges, on the other to the Chapel of San Lorenzo, decorated with frescoes by Fra Angelico. The Lodges can also be reached from the courtyard of St. Damase along the main path - a magnificent staircase consisting of 118 degrees, erected under Pope Pius IX.

In the nineteenth century, the Vatican Picture Gallery was located in five rooms on the third floor, consisting of a small number of paintings - selected works of great masters. In the spring of 1908, the Vatican Pinakothek began operating in a wing of the Belvedere Palace. In 1932, by order of Pope Pius XI, a new special building was built for the Pinakothek.

On the side of St. Peter's Basilica, around the courtyard of St. Damasus, are the personal apartments of the pope and the audience hall.

Belvedere Palace

The Pius-Clemente Museum is located in the Belvedere Palace, where two vestibules lead: a round one with a unique view of the panorama of the city of Rome and a quadrangular one, which houses the well-known Belvedere torso of Hercules.

Near the round vestibule is the Hall of Meleager, in which there is a statue of this Aetolian hero - the mythical hunter of the Calydonian boar. The circular entrance hall leads out to an octagonal courtyard, which is surrounded by a portico with sixteen granite columns. In the quadrangular niches are installed the world famous statues of Apollo Belvedere, Laocoon and his sons, Perseus Antonio Canova, Hermes Belvedere.

The path from the courtyard leads to the gallery of Statues, in which, among other works, the Sleeping Ariadne, Apollo of Saurocton, and Cupid of Praxiteles are placed. Next, through the Hall of Animals (a collection of well-crafted sculptural figures of animals) one goes to the Hall of Muses. It is an octagonal chamber supported by sixteen columns of Carrara marble, in which are installed antique statues of Apollo of Massageta and the muses discovered at Tivoli.

From the Hall of the Muses one can enter the Round Hall, which has ten marble columns with a dome and a floor paved with antique mosaics discovered in Otricol. There are statues of Ceres, Antinous, Hercules, Juno, etc., and a red porphyry pool is unique in its beauty and size. From this hall to the south is the Hall of the Greek Cross, so named for its shape. It houses the sarcophagi of Saints Helen and Constance, made of dark red porphyry.

From here you get to the main internal staircase of the museum, created by Simoneti. It is decorated with thirty columns made of red granite and two of black porphyry. This staircase leads to the Egyptian Museum founded by Pius VII; then to the second floor to the Candelabrum gallery, Etruscan Museum. Housed in thirteen halls, the museum was founded by Gregory XVI and houses a rich collection of ancient Italian treasures.

Further stairs lead to the beautiful garden della Pigna. At the end of the wall there is a semicircular niche (1560, designed by architect Pirro Ligorio), in which a bronze Roman fountain, shaped like a cone of the 1st century, is installed. and gave the name to this garden.

Galleries Bramante, Arazzi, Braccio Nuovo

The Chiaramonti Museum occupies the Braccio Nuovo Gallery and the north side of the Bramante East Gallery. All sides of the Bramante gallery are divided into thirty compartments, furnished with an ancient collection of statues, bas-reliefs, busts (Julius Caesar, Tiberius, Silenus, Son, etc., busts of Scipio Africanus, Cicero, Mary, etc.).

The Braccio Nuovo Gallery contains statues: Titus, Augustus, Euripides, Claudius, Minerva, Demosthenes, etc., busts: Lepidus, Mark Antony, Trajan, Hadrian, etc. Only one lattice separates the Chiaramonte Gallery and the Museum of Inscriptions founded by Pope Pius VII, having more than three thousand monuments.

The Western Bramante Gallery includes the following rooms and museums. Numismatic office. Aldobrandin wedding hall. Cabinet of Papyri. The Museum of Sacred Objects houses a collection of ancient church utensils discovered in the catacombs, etc. The Museum of Secular Objects includes a collection of antique utensils made from various metals; precious stones; bronze figurines of idols; ivory carvings. The Hall of Byzantine artists, where Pope Gregory XVI housed a collection of paintings from the 13th and 14th centuries.

In the western Bramante gallery (second floor), the Arazzi gallery contains a precious collection of carpets made from Raphael's cardboards, depicting the acts of the holy apostles.

The Vatican is an amazing state. No tourist remains indifferent after visiting the Apostolic Palace or visiting the papal monastery. Some admire the Sistine Chapel, some spend time in the austere gardens of the Vatican, others admire and admire the brilliant frescoes of the masters of the Middle Ages. But every guest here will meet and see something that will leave the best impressions in his memory forever.