Mostly indoors today at the Vatican Museum--Wow!

I had purchased a ticket online to visit the Vatican Museum, which includes the Sistine Chapel, by the way. When I arrived about a half-hour early, I held up my iPad mini to be scanned and waltzed in, waiting probably 30 seconds in total! It cost me four euros extra for this treatment, and there were hundreds--yes! hundreds--of people in a line wrapping around the wall of the Vatican! Even more, I think, when I left! My time is certainly worth 4 euros, they will be in line for hours!!!

The point of my excursion today was Beauty, and I was well-rewarded for my effort.  Today's blog will be mostly visual with little text, some nuggets and clarifications here and there, but mostly you'll see the magnificent wonders I saw. Note: no picture-taking within the Sistine Chapel, so you'll see a couple postcards of figures I especially appreciate.

Let's begin:

an Egyptian bas-relief--stunning and gentle

Egyptian god as a jackal--there were many, one was a rat!

 Mid-Eastern lovely! Notice that her eyes are kind of like Constantine's that I posted yesterday.

I appreciate the repetition of lines in this Assyrian piece--the arms are repeated, the heads, the legs. Certainly gives the impression of a great number!

I don't remember her name (I didn't write down anything), but 

I think the crescent moon is very cool!

Apollo Belvedere--classical beauty, but not what Michelangelo was interested in. This was too pretty and weak.

Michelangelo appreciated the energy and power in this broken torso instead. The difference is easy to see, isn't it?

The ancient scupture of Laocoon and his sons freezes that energy into a moment. Laocoon,  warned of 'Greeks bearing gifts'--namely the Trojan horse--and the gods sent these snakes to stop his protest!

Bust of Pericles--look him up, he was amazing!

Artemis of Ephesus, goddess of fertility.

An ordinary hallway ceiling on the long route to the Sistine Chapel--and many other sights.

 Tapestry designed by Rafael. I think those men, who are so eager to see the infant Jesus, may be shepherds. Dramatic isn't it? Not all quiet and sweet.

An embellished hallway ceiling; it extended at least that far behind me!

Ceiling in a room.

Annunciation--not as clear as it could have been, but it was painted quite high on the wall, blending into the ceiling! Magnificent, no?

Now an intense modern piece (1956), representing Mary.

The Sistine Chapel is unbelievable. There is so much energy and power in that room, so much spiritiuality, it is overpowering. A full wall represents The Last Judgement and is so full of figures and glory and suffering (among the damned),  that my brain cannot take it in--overload! The ceiling is has smaller sections telling Bible stories, but even those are too much. I prefer the single characters. For one thing they are larger in size, so I can actually see them instead of trying to pick them out of a crowd. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Notice that they are not simply facing full forward, they are turned, even twisted into more interesting shapes. And look at the muscles, they are modeled on real people. A magnificent!

Leaving the museum, I went down this cool, spiral staircase! 

My feet were talking back to me, but I was so happy to have spent the hours in the presence of such beauty; my brain is full of wonder and amazement!

Then, out on the street were these two trucks:

The truck, and the piccoli--little--truck! Are they cute or what? From the sublime to the ridiculous, just like they say!

I am hoping to go to St Peter's Basillica tomorrow, before it's so hot. I also want to ride the tourist bus around town, also before it's too hot to sit on the top deck. We'll see; tune in again tomorrow for another thrilling chapter!

Until then, Ciao!