Rome September 8 (part 2)

In the previous post we had just passed through an area with lots of large tapestries.  We moved into to a grand gallery with one of the most elaborate ceilings I have seen in a while.  There were dozens perhaps hundreds of painting framed in gold leaf and ornate plaster molding.  The gallery was actually called the map room and had maps depicting the lands around the Mediterranean.

We were actually walking through the gallery in the opposite direction for which it was build.  Originally the Popes would use this passage way going in the other direction going to the chapel and such.

The curved ceiling structure created and unusual surface on which artist would have been challenged to do   paintings the would accurate while lying on there backs.

The maps were not as fancy or elaborate as the paintings on the ceiling, but artists tried to add some interesting features like the ones below.  The guide was showing us on the map where Rome is.

In another map was a map showing all of Italy.  Below is a map of Venice where we would end our trip a couple of weeks later.  Venice is easy to recognized because it looks like a mittened hands interlock or two big fish trying to eat each other.

Next we went into an area that displayed more tapestries, but these were quite different than the ones we had seen earlier, these were Flemish.  The Dutch who did these did not know how to create perspective in their works.  All of the face and features are flat.

 

The details and colors were just as good as in the tapestries we had seen earlier, but they really looked quite different.

Noah above and Jesus being baptized below.

 

Every so often there would be an open window that would give us a glimpse of where we were in the complex.  The dome above is on St. Peter's cathedral and the one below show a view of some of the antennas that make up part of the Vatican communication network.

Moving on we came to this vaulted dome that was a transition between corridors.  It was a pretty cool lobby.

We headed down another corridor, sort of a plain and simple one.  Below is a large plain door though which VIP's would be ushered to have an audience with the Pope.  While we were standing there a couple of men came to the door, our guide told us to be ready to take a peek when the door opened.  Sure enough we got just a peek.  The room was pretty well decorated much in the style that we had already seen earlier in the morning.

At this point we were finished with the Museum tour and headed out through this area to get out to an area from where we would head into to St. Peter's Cathedral.  The arch way would lead us to St. Peter's Square.

We turned to the right and went onto the "front porch" of St. Peter's

On the right is St. Peter's Cathedral on the left St. Peter's square.

The door above is a special door that is only opened on the Jubilee year.

Here is the five of us in front of St. Peter's the pillar in the background is in the middle of St. Peter's square which is actually round.

St. Peter's Cathedral is  the largest Cathedral in the world.  There are bronze plate on the floor showing where some other famous Cathedral would extend from the altar area. I have to say this was one big structure.  The main hall and all of the side rooms provide plenty of areas to decorate and they spared no expense.

The photo above is looking back toward the entrance and the one below looked toward the altar area.  Note the amber light in the center of the photo below.  I mentioned alabaster earlier and this light is actually a window made of alabaster.  I will take several pictures of this unusual window not knowing how close of a shot I will get of it.

The light level level in the Cathedral was enough to get some pictures but I had to hold the camera still and you can see that movements were picked up a blur.

Entrance ways into the many side chapels were often very elaborate.

This sculpture of Mary and Jesus above is a very popular feature.  It was pretty difficult to get close enough to get a good photo.

Jon did most of the tour with a video camera. 

It is pretty obvious that there was a lot of time energy planning and money used on this project.  From a Project Manager's perspective this place had scope creep and cost overrun written all over it.

From an artist's perspective this place was really impressive.  It was hard to stop taking pictures.

There are some sort of creepy elements in a place like this.  Here is the embalmed body of a beloved saint.

As you can see there were a lot of people on tours as well. 

more domed ceilings and another shot of the alabaster window.

In the later scenes of the recent movie angels and demons the main actor Ewan McGregor ran down into the area beyond the railing and ultimately set himself on fire.  If I remember correctly this area led to the burial site of Peter.  

More ornate arches leading to Chapels.

I was intrigued by the image above.  Billions of dollars in architecture and furniture and someone decided that cheap molded chairs should be added to be back rows for extra seating capacity.

In most places using a flash really didn't work but here you can see that the sculptures were actually of white marble.

These were other place where the bodies of dead saints were placed to supposedly honor them.

 

 



These two photos show the scale of this building relative to people.

Finally we headed back out to the entry colonnade/porch and then out onto the square again.

The panorama below pretty well show the whole plaza

As we exited the upper terrace there were a couple of Swiss guards.  These are the security guards for the Vatican.  Michelangelo supposedly designed their uniforms.  Some say he didn't like soldiers.

We headed over to Vatican post office and mailed a post card to ourselves and then we took a couple of we were here pictures.

We walked out into St. Peter's square and took some pictures back toward St. Peter's Cathedral.  You can see the dome just peeking over the top of the main building.

The perimeter of the main plaza area was ringed with a columned portico.  On the roof above are full sized marble sculptures.

 

Clarice, Jon, Karen and Renee head for the exit walking around this fountain.

 

Above the portico are dozens of statures.  In the photo below the building on the left is where the Pope has his quarters.  The second window from the right above the railing is where the Pope makes his appearances.

 

From here we will be heading out to Rome.  We will spend the rest of the day touring other points of interest in the area but that will be need to be in the next post.