Which palace is the official residence of the Pope. Papal palace, Vatican, Italy

The Apostolic Palace is the official residence of the Pope, located in the Vatican. Also known as the Papal Palace and the Vatican Palace. In the Vatican itself, the building is called the Palace of Sixtus V in honor of Pope Sixtus V.

The Apostolic Palace consists of the Papal Apartments, various office spaces of the Catholic Church and the Papal See, private and public chapels, the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Library, including the Borgia Apartments, now used for art storage.

Returning to Rome in 1377 after the Avignon captivity, the Pope's court first chose the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere as its residence, and then the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. By that time, the old Vatican Palace had fallen into complete decay, and the Lateran Palace, which was once the official residence of the Popes, was twice subjected to serious fires. In 1447, Pope Nicholas V demolished the old fortified building in order to build the current Apostolic Palace in its place. Then, over one and a half hundred years, the palace was completed and decorated. It began to acquire its present appearance at the end of the 16th century under Pope Sixtus V. In the 20th century, by order of Pope Pius XI, a monumental entrance to the art gallery and museum was built.

To be precise, the Apostolic Palace consists of several detached buildings located around the courtyard of Sixtus V (Cortile di Sisto V). It stands northeast of St. Peter's Bastion, next to the Bastion of Nicholas V and Palazzo Gregorio XIII.

The Borgia Apartments are a series of rooms in the palace for the personal use of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo de Borgia). It was he who, at the end of the 15th century, commissioned the Italian artist Pinturicchio to decorate the apartments with frescoes. The rooms are part of the Vatican Library and the Vatican Museum - most of them are now occupied by the Vatican collection of modern religious art, which began in 1973 at the initiative of Pope Paul VI.

The Clementine Hall was created in the 16th century by order of Pope Clement VIII in honor of his predecessor, Pope Clement I. Like other chapels and apartments in the palace, this hall is notable for its huge collection of frescoes and other works of art.

But perhaps the most famous premises of the Apostolic Palace is the Sistine Chapel, named after Pope Sixtus IV. She is famous for her frescoes, on which the outstanding masters of the Renaissance worked - Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and others.

The audience rooms are located on the third floor of the palace, among them the Clementine Hall, the Hall of Consistories, the Great and Small Throne Rooms, the Papal Library (the Pope's office and the room for private audiences). The fourth floor houses the premises of the papal secretariat. The palace has over 1000 rooms renowned for the world's greatest works of art: the Sistine Chapel and its famous ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo (restored 1980-1990) and Raphael's Stanza.

Before the transfer of the capital of Italy to Rome, the Quirinal Palace served as the Pope's summer residence. Another papal residence is located in the Lateran Palace, and in the town of Castel Gandolfo there is a country summer residence.

Construction history

There is no exact information about the beginning of the construction of the Vatican Palace: some attribute it to Constantine the Great, others attribute the original construction to the time of Pope Symmachus (6th century). It is only certain that during the arrival of Charlemagne to Rome for the coronation, the palace on the Vatican Hill served as the residence of Pope Leo III; but then the palace was launched, and the residence of the pope was transferred to the Lateran Palace. Only from the time of the return of the popes from Avignon (1377) the Vatican became a permanent papal residence and expanded with a number of grandiose outbuildings.

The southern (oldest) part of the palace

The main entrance is from the right wing of the St. Peter, near the equestrian statue of Constantine the Great. The main staircase (scala Regia) with a magnificent Ionic colonnade (built under Urban VIII) leads to the Royal Hall (Sala Regia), which serves as a vestibule for the Sistine and Pauline Chapels. The Sala Regia is decorated with beautiful frescoes by Vasari, Sammakini, the Zucchero brothers, Salviati and Sicchiolante.

The Pauline Chapel is remarkable for two frescoes by Michelangelo: The Conversion of the Apostle Paul and The Crucifixion of St. Peter, ”significantly affected by the soot of wax candles. During Easter, a divine service is held here. On the second floor there are the famous Raphael's boxes and 4 halls, the so-called Raphael's Stanzas, which Raphael and his students painted on behalf of Pope Julius II and Leo Χ (1508-20). The Hall of Constantine leads to the Sala de Chiroscuri (the hall of chiaroscuro), from where on one side they exit to the San Lorenzo chapel, with frescoes by Fra Angelico, and on the other to the Gallery of the Lodges. But the main path to the Lodge is from the courtyard of St. Damaz on a magnificent staircase of 118 steps, built under Pope Pius IX.

In the 19th century, in the 5 rooms of the third floor, behind Raphael's boxes, the Vatican Art Gallery was located, which contained a small number of paintings that are the best works of the great masters. Then on March 19, 1908, the Vatican Pinacoteca was opened in one of the wings of the Belvedere Palace, for which a new building was built in 1932 by order of Pope Pius XI.

The Pope's own apartments and the audience hall are located around the courtyard of St. Damaz, from the side of the church of St. Peter.

Belvedere Palace

The Belvedere Palace is occupied by the Pio Clementine Museum. There are two lobbies leading to the museum: a quadrangular one with the famous belvedere torso of Hercules, and a round one with a view of the panorama of the city of Rome. Next to the circular lobby is the Meleager Hall, where a statue of this mythical hunter is exhibited. From the circular lobby you enter an octagonal courtyard surrounded by a portico supported by 16 granite columns. Under the portico are sarcophagi, altars, fonts, bas-reliefs - all of almost remarkable antique work. In the quadrangular niches, world famous statues flaunt: Apollo Belvedere, Laocoon and his sons, Hermes Belvedere and Perseus Canova.

From this courtyard they enter the gallery of Statues, where Apollo of Savrokton and Cupid Praxiteles, Sleeping Ariadne are located between other works. From here, through the Hall of Beasts (so named after a collection of remarkably executed sculptural figures of animals), one enters the Hall of the Muses, octagonal, supported by 16 columns of Carrara marble, with antique statues of Apollo of Massaget and the muses found in Tivoli. The Hall of the Muses leads to the Round Hall, with a dome on 10 marble columns, with a floor made of antique mosaics found in Otricoli. In this hall there is a pool of red porphyry, one of a kind in size and beauty, statues of Antinous, Ceres, Juno, Hercules, etc. To the south of this hall is the hall of the Greek Cross, so called in its form; here are the sarcophagi of the red porphyry of St. Helena and Constance.

From here there is an internal main staircase of the museum, built by Simoneti and decorated with 30 columns of red granite and two of black porphyry. The same staircase leads to the Egyptian Museum, founded by Pius VII, and to the 2nd floor, where the Candelabrum Gallery and the Etruscan Museum, founded by Gregory XVI and occupying hall 13, with a rich collection of ancient Italian antiquities, are located.

The museum staircase leads to the della Pigna garden. In the end wall of the palace there is a semicircular niche (architect Pirro Ligorio, 1560) with a bronze Roman cone-shaped fountain (Italian Pigna) of the 1st century, which gave the name to the entire garden.

Galleries Bramante and Braccio Nuovo

The Chiaramonti Museum occupies the northern end of the Bramante East Gallery and the Braccio Nuovo Gallery. Each side of the first gallery is divided into 30 sections, furnished with a wonderful collection of statues, busts and bas-reliefs (Tiberius, Julius Caesar, Dream, Silenus, etc.; busts: Cicero, Mary, Scipio Africanus, etc.). In the gallery of Braccio Nuovo there are statues: Augustus, Claudius, Titus, Euripides, Demosthenes, Minerva, etc .; busts: Mark Anthony, Lepidus, Adrian, Trajan, etc. From the Ciaramonte gallery to the south, separated by one lattice, there is the Museum of Inscriptions (more than 3000 monuments), founded by Pope Pius VII.

The Western Bramante Gallery houses the following museums and halls: 1) The Museum of Secular Objects - a collection of antique utensils from various metals, bronze statues of idols, precious stones and ivory carvings. 2) Museum of Sacred Objects - a collection of ancient church utensils found in the catacombs, etc. 3) Cabinet of papyri. 4) Hall of the Aldobrandi wedding. 5) Hall of Byzantine Artists, in which Gregory XVI placed a collection of paintings from the XIII and XIV centuries. 6) Numismatic office.

The Arazzi Gallery on the second floor of the Bramante West Gallery contains a precious collection of carpets made from Raphael's carpets depicting the deeds of the holy apostles.

see also

Write a review on the article "Apostolic Palace"

Notes (edit)

Links

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Vladimir Sedov. , 2006.

Excerpt from the Apostolic Palace

“Here, eat, master,” he said, again returning to his former respectful tone and unwrapping and serving Pierre a few baked potatoes. - There was a soup at dinner. And the potatoes are important!
Pierre had not eaten all day, and the smell of potatoes struck him as unusually pleasant. He thanked the soldier and began to eat.
- Well, is that so? - smiling, said the soldier and took one of the potatoes. - And that's how you are. He took out a folding knife again, cut the potatoes into equal two halves in his palm, sprinkled salt from a rag and brought it to Pierre.
“The potatoes are important,” he repeated. - You eat like this.
It seemed to Pierre that he had never eaten food tastier than this.
- No, it's all right for me, - said Pierre, - but why did they shoot these unfortunates! .. The last twenty years.
- Tts, tts ... - said the little man. “Sin then, then sin…” he quickly added, and, as if his words were always ready in his mouth and accidentally flew out of him, he continued: “What is it, sir, did you stay in Moscow like that?
“I didn't think they would come so soon. I stayed by accident, ”said Pierre.
- But how did they take you, falcon, from your house?
- No, I went to the fire, and then they grabbed me, tried for an arsonist.
“Where there is judgment, there’s a lie,” the little man put in.
- How long have you been here? - asked Pierre, chewing on the last potato.
- I that? That Sunday they took me out of the hospital in Moscow.
- Who are you, soldier?
- Soldiers of the Absheron regiment. He was dying of fever. We were not told anything. There were twenty of ours. And they didn't think, they didn't guess.
- Well, are you bored here? Pierre asked.
- It's not boring, falcon. Call me Plato; Karataev's nickname, - he added, apparently in order to make it easier for Pierre to refer to him. - Sokolik nicknamed in the service. How not to get bored, falcon! Moscow is the mother of cities. How not to get bored watching this. Yes, the worm gnaws the cabbage, but before that you disappear: that's how the old people used to say, '' he added quickly.
- How, how did you say? Pierre asked.
- I that? - asked Karataev. “I say: not by our mind, but by God's judgment,” he said, thinking that he was repeating what had been said. And at once he continued: - How do you, sir, have estates? And is there a house? So a full cup! And is there a mistress? Are the old parents alive? He asked, and although Pierre could not see in the dark, he felt that the soldier's lips were curling up with a restrained smile of affection while he asked this. He, apparently, was upset that Pierre did not have parents, especially a mother.
- Wife for advice, mother-in-law for greetings, but no dearer dear mother! - he said. - Well, are there any kids? - he continued to ask. Pierre's negative answer again, apparently, upset him, and he hastened to add: - Well, young people, God willing, there will be. If only in the council to live ...
“It’s all the same now,” Pierre said involuntarily.
- Eh, you dear man, - Plato objected. - Never give up money and prison. - He sat down better, cleared his throat, apparently preparing for a long story. “So then, my dear friend, I was still living at home,” he began. - Our patrimony is rich, there is a lot of land, the peasants live well, and our house, thank you God. Father himself went out to mow this. We lived well. Christians were real. It happened ... - And Platon Karataev told a long story about how he went to a strange grove behind the forest and got caught by the watchman, how he was flogged, tried and handed over to the soldiers. “Well, the falcon,” he said in a voice changing from a smile, “they thought grief, but joy! My brother would have to go, if it were not my sin. And the younger brother himself has the heels of the guys - and, look, I have one soldier left. There was a girl, and even before the soldiery, God cleaned up. I came on leave, I tell you. I look - they live better than before. The yard is full of bellies, women are at home, two brothers are working. One Mikhailo, the youngest, is at home. Father says: “All children are equal to me, he says: no matter what finger you bite, everything hurts. And if Plato hadn’t been shaved then, Mikhaila would have gone. ” He called us all - believe me - he put us in front of the image. Mikhailo, he says, come here, bow at his feet, and you, woman, bow, and your grandchildren bow. Got it? He speaks. So then, my dear friend. Rock is looking for a head. And we all judge: sometimes it is not good, sometimes it is not okay. Our happiness, my friend, is like water in delirium: if you pull it out, it puffs up, but if you pull it out, there’s nothing. So that. - And Plato sat on his straw.
After a pause for a while, Plato got up.
- Well, I have tea, do you want to sleep? - he said and quickly began to be baptized, saying:
- Lord, Jesus Christ, Nikola the pleaser, Frol and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ, Nikola the pleaser! Frola and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ - have mercy and save us! - he concluded, bowed to the ground, got up and, sighing, sat down on his straw. - That's it. Lay it down, God, with a stone, lift it up in a ball, - he said and lay down, pulling on his overcoat.
- What prayer did you read? Pierre asked.
- As? - said Plato (he was already asleep). - Read what? I prayed to God. Don't you pray?
“No, and I pray,” said Pierre. - But what did you say: Frola and Lavra?
- And what about, - Plato answered quickly, - a horse holiday. And you need to feel sorry for the cattle, - said Karataev. - You see, rogue, curled up. I got hot, you daughter of a bitch, ”he said, feeling the dog at his feet, and, turning again, immediately fell asleep.
Outside could be heard crying and screaming somewhere in the distance, and fire could be seen through the cracks of the booth; but the booth was quiet and dark. Pierre did not sleep for a long time and with open eyes lay in the darkness in his place, listening to the measured snoring of Plato, who was lying next to him, and felt that the previously destroyed world was now with a new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations, erected in his soul.

In the booth, into which Pierre entered and in which he spent four weeks, there were twenty-three prisoners of war, three officers and two officials.
All of them then seemed in a fog to Pierre, but Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre's soul the most powerful and dear memory and the personification of everything Russian, kind and round. When the next day, at dawn, Pierre saw his neighbor, the first impression of something round was fully confirmed: the whole figure of Plato in his French overcoat belted with a rope, in a cap and bast shoes, was round, his head was completely round, his back, chest, shoulders, even the arms that he wore, as if always about to hug something, were round; a pleasant smile and large brown tender eyes were round.
Platon Karataev must have been over fifty, judging by his stories about campaigns in which he participated as a longtime soldier. He himself did not know and could not in any way determine how old he was; but his teeth, bright white and strong, which all rolled out in their two semicircles when he laughed (which he often did), were all good and whole; not a single gray hair was in his beard or hair, and his whole body had the appearance of suppleness, and especially firmness and endurance.
His face, in spite of the fine, round wrinkles, had an expression of innocence and youth; his voice was pleasant and melodious. But the main feature of his speech was spontaneity and controversy. He apparently never thought about what he said and what he would say; and from this there was a special compelling persuasiveness in the speed and fidelity of his intonations.
His physical strength and agility were such at the beginning of his captivity that he did not seem to understand what fatigue and illness were. Every day in the morning and in the evening he, lying down, said: "Lay down, Lord, with a stone, lift it up with a ball"; in the morning, getting up, always shrugging his shoulders in the same way, said: "I lay down - curled up, got up - shook myself." And indeed, as soon as he lay down to immediately fall asleep with a stone, and as soon as he shook himself, immediately, without a second of delay, to take up some business, as children, getting up, take up toys. He knew how to do everything, not very well, but not bad either. He baked, steamed, sewed, planed, made boots. He was always busy and only at night allowed himself to talk, which he loved, and songs. He sang songs, not like songwriters who know that they are being listened to, but he sang like birds sing, evidently because he needed to make these sounds just as it is necessary to stretch or disperse; and these sounds were always subtle, gentle, almost feminine, mournful, and his face was very serious at the same time.
Having been captured and overgrown with a beard, he apparently threw away from himself everything that was put on him, alien, soldier's, and involuntarily returned to the old, peasant, folk way.
- A soldier on vacation - a shirt made of trousers, - he used to say. He was reluctant to talk about his time as a soldier, although he did not complain, and often repeated that he had never been beaten throughout his service. When he talked, he mainly recounted from his old and, apparently, dear memories of the "Christian", as he pronounced, peasant life. The sayings that filled his speech were not those mostly obscene and brisk sayings that the soldiers say, but they were those folk sayings that seem so insignificant, taken separately, and which suddenly take on the meaning of deep wisdom when spoken by the way.
Often he said the exact opposite of what he had said before, but both were true. He loved to speak and spoke well, adorning his speech with affectionate and proverbs, which, it seemed to Pierre, he himself invented; but the main charm of his stories was that in his speech the events were the simplest, sometimes the very ones that Pierre saw without noticing them, acquired the character of solemn goodness. He loved to listen to fairy tales that one soldier told in the evenings (all the same), but most of all he loved to hear stories about real life. He smiled happily, listening to such stories, inserting words and asking questions that tended to grasp the goodness of what he was told. Attachments, friendship, love, as Pierre understood them, Karataev did not have any; but he loved and lived lovingly with everything with which life brought him, and especially with a person - not with some famous person, but with those people who were before his eyes. He loved his mongrel, loved his comrades, the French, loved Pierre, who was his neighbor; but Pierre felt that Karataev, in spite of all his affectionate tenderness towards him (with which he involuntarily paid tribute to Pierre's spiritual life), would not for a moment be upset at being separated from him. And Pierre began to feel the same feeling for Karataev.

41.903611 , 12.456389

Apostolic Palace (also called Vatican Palace or Papal palace) - the official residence of the Pope, located in the Vatican. Official name - Sixtus V Palace (eng. Palace of sixtus v ).

The complex of buildings of the Apostolic Palace includes the Papal Apartments, government offices of the Roman Catholic Church, several chapels, the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Library. The audience rooms are located on the 3rd floor of the palace, among them the Clementine Hall, the Hall of Consistories, the Great and Small Throne Rooms, the Papal Library (the Pope's office and the room for private audiences). The fourth floor houses the premises of the papal secretariat. The palace has more than 1000 rooms that are world renowned for their greatest works of art: the Sistine Chapel and its famous ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo (restored in -) and Raphael's Stanzas.

Before the transfer of the capital of Italy to Rome, the Quirinal Palace served as the Pope's summer residence. Another papal residence is located in the Lateran Palace, and in the town of Castel Gandolfo there is a country summer residence.

Construction history

Plan of the northern part of the Apostolic Palace (Rodolfo Lanciani, 1893-1901).

Plan of the southern part of the Apostolic Palace (Rodolfo Lanciani, 1893-1901).

There is no exact information about the beginning of the construction of the Vatican Palace: some attribute it to Constantine the Great, others attribute the original construction to the time of Pope Symmachus (6th century). It is only certain that during the arrival of Charlemagne to Rome for the coronation, the palace on the Vatican Hill served as the residence of Pope Leo III; but then the palace was launched, and the residence of the pope was transferred to the Lateran Palace. Only from the time of the return of the popes from Avignon (1377) the Vatican became a permanent papal residence and expanded with a number of grandiose outbuildings.

Under Sixtus IV (1471), the famous Sistine Chapel was built. Under Innocent VIII (1490), the Belvedere Palace was erected near the Vatican, which by the architect Bramante was connected to the Vatican by two magnificent galleries, on behalf of Pope Julius II (1503). Bramante were also started surrounding the courtyard of St. Damaza lodges, which were later completed and painted by Raphael and his disciples. Pope Paul III built the Paulin Chapel and next to it the so-called. Royal Hall (Sala regia). Under Pius IV and Gregory XIII, the northern and eastern wings of lodges appeared, and Sixtus V built a transverse gallery, which houses the Vatican Library. Clement XIV and Pius VI fundamentals. t. n. The Pio Clementine Museum, and Pius VII the Chiaramonti Museum and held a second transverse gallery, the so-called. Braccio Nuovo (1817-22). Gregory XVI founded the Etruscan and Egyptian museums, and finally Pope Pius IX covered the Raphael Lodge with a glass roof and built the fourth wall of the courtyard of St. Damaza.

Description of the palace

The Vatican Palace is not a homogeneous architectural whole; it is a collection of palaces, halls, galleries, chapels, in style and time of construction belonging to different eras and containing an unparalleled collection of treasures of architecture, painting and sculpture. The palace has up to 20 courtyards, more than 200 staircases and 12,000 rooms. In appearance, it is an irregular quadrangle stretching from south to north in an oblique direction from the church of St. Peter. The longitudinal - east and west - facades are formed by two galleries connecting the old Vatican with the Belvedere. The space between these galleries is divided by two transverse galleries: Bibliotechnaya and Braccio Nuovo into 3 courtyards. The first, closest to the Vatican, is called the Belvedere. In the 3rd courtyard there is the Giardino della Pigna garden. Another large garden (Girardino Pontifico) is located to the west of the palace, on the hillside, where is the villa of Pope Pius IV (villa Pia), built by Pirro Ligorio.

The southern (oldest) part of the palace

The main entrance is from the right wing of the St. Peter, near the equestrian statue of Constantine the Great. The main staircase (scala Regia) with a magnificent Ionic colonnade (built under Urban VIII) leads to the Royal Hall (Sala Regia), which serves as a vestibule for the Sistine and Pauline Chapels. The Sala Regia is decorated with beautiful frescoes by Vasari, Sammakini, the Zucchero brothers, Salviati and Sicchiolante.

The Pauline Chapel is remarkable for two frescoes by Michelangelo: The Conversion of the Apostle Paul and The Crucifixion of St. Peter, ”significantly affected by the soot of wax candles. During Easter, a divine service is held here. On the second floor there are the famous Raphael's boxes and 4 halls, the so-called Raphael's Stanzas, which Raphael and his students painted on behalf of Pope Julius II and Leo Χ (1508-20). The Hall of Constantine leads to the Sala de Chiroscuri (the hall of chiaroscuro), from where on one side they exit to the San Lorenzo chapel, with frescoes by Fra Angelico, and on the other to the Gallery of the Lodge. But the main path to the Lodge is from the courtyard of St. Damaz on a magnificent staircase of 118 steps, built under Pope Pius IX.

In the 19th century, in the 5 rooms of the third floor, behind Raphael's boxes, the Vatican Art Gallery was located, which contained a small number of paintings that are the best works of the great masters. Then on March 19, 1908, the Vatican Pinacoteca was opened in one of the wings of the Belvedere Palace, for which a new building was built in 1932 by order of Pope Pius XI.

The Pope's own apartments and the audience hall are located around the courtyard of St. Damaz, from the side of the church of St. Peter.

Belvedere Palace

Niche of the Belvedere and the bronze cone-shaped Roman fountain.

Garden della Pigna (pine cones)

The Belvedere Palace is occupied by the Pio Clementine Museum. There are two lobbies leading to the museum: a quadrangular one with the famous belvedere torso of Hercules, and a round one, from where you can see the panorama of the city of Rome. Next to the circular lobby is the Meleager Hall, where a statue of this mythical hunter is exhibited. From the circular lobby you enter an octagonal courtyard surrounded by a portico supported by 16 granite columns. Under the portico are sarcophagi, altars, fonts, bas-reliefs - all of almost remarkable antique work. In the quadrangular niches world famous statues flaunt: Apollo Belvedere, Laocoon and sons, Mercury or Antinous Belvedere and Perseus Canova.

From this courtyard they enter the gallery of Statues, where Apollo of Savrokton and Cupid Praxiteles, Sleeping Ariadne are located between other works. From here, through the Hall of Beasts (so named after a collection of remarkably executed sculptural figures of animals), one enters the Hall of the Muses, octagonal, supported by 16 columns of Carrara marble, with antique statues of Apollo of Massaget and the muses found in Tivoli. The Hall of the Muses leads to the Round Hall, with a dome on 10 marble columns, with a floor made of antique mosaics found in Otricoli. In this hall there is a pool of red porphyry, one of a kind in size and beauty, statues of Antinous, Ceres, Juno, Hercules, etc. To the south of this hall is the hall of the Greek Cross, so called in its form; here are the sarcophagi of the red porphyry of St. Helena and Constance.

From here you can see the internal main staircase of the museum, built by Simoneti and decorated with 30 columns of red granite and two of black porphyry. The same staircase leads to the Egyptian Museum, founded by Pius VII, and to the 2nd floor, where the Candelabrum Gallery and the Etruscan Museum, founded by Gregory XVI and occupying hall 13, with a rich collection of ancient Italian antiquities, are located.

The museum staircase leads to the della Pigna garden. In the end wall of the palace there is a semicircular niche (architect Pirro Ligorio, 1560) with a bronze Roman cone-shaped fountain (Italian Pigna) of the 1st century, which gave the name to the entire garden.

Galleries Bramante and Braccio Nuovo

The northern end of the Bramante East Gallery and the Braccio Nuovo Gallery is occupied by the Chiaramonti Museum. Each side of the first gallery is divided into 30 sections, furnished with a wonderful collection of statues, busts and bas-reliefs (Tiberius, Julius Caesar, Dream, Silenus, etc.; busts: Cicero, Mary, Scipio Africanus, etc.). In the gallery of Braccio Nuovo there are statues: Augustus, Claudius, Titus, Euripides, Demosthenes, Minerva, etc .; busts: Mark Antony, Lepidus, Adrian, Trajan, etc. From the Ciaramonte gallery to the south, separated by one grating, there is the Museum of Inscriptions (more than 3000 monuments), founded by Pope Pius VII.

The Western Bramante Gallery houses the following museums and halls: 1) The Museum of Secular Objects - a collection of antique utensils from various metals, bronze statues of idols, precious stones and ivory carvings. 2) Museum of Sacred Objects - a collection of ancient church utensils found in the catacombs, etc. 3) Cabinet of papyri. 4) Hall of the Aldobrandi wedding. 5) Hall of Byzantine Artists, in which Gregory XVI placed a collection of paintings from the XIII and XIV centuries. 6) Numismatic office.

The Arazzi Gallery on the 2nd floor of the Bramante West Gallery contains a precious collection of carpets made from Raphael's carpets depicting the deeds of the holy apostles.

see also

Notes (edit)

Links

The Apostolic Palace is the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican. But more often you can hear other variants of the name: the Papal Palace or the Vatican Palace. The Apostolic Palace is not just papal apartments, but a whole historical and museum complex, which can be confidently called one of the grandiose architectural structures of undeniable artistic and historical value.

• Architectural style: Renaissance architecture;
• Architect: Donato Bramante;
• Date of foundation: April 30, 1589.

Complex

The Vatican Palace complex includes buildings such as the Papal Apartments, the government offices of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican Library, the Vatican Museum and several chapels. There are more than a thousand rooms in the palace, among them the Hall of Consistories, the Clementine Hall, the Great and Small Throne Rooms, the Pope's office and an office for private audiences, which are located on the third floor. And on the fourth floor are the premises of the papal secretariat.

A bit of history

Namely, not much, because it is not known for certain when the construction of the Vatican Palace began. Some attribute this date to the time of Constantine the Great, the beginning of the IV century, others attribute the first building to the time of Pope Symmachus, the VI century. Only one thing is known for certain, that during the arrival of Charlemagne for the coronation, the palace on the Vatican Hill served as the papal residence. This was the end of the 8th and beginning of the 9th centuries. But later the palace was launched. And only in 1377, the Vatican became the permanent residence of the pope, and this period begins with the construction of a number of grandiose buildings.

The Vatican Palace is a whole composition of architectural collections of palaces, halls, galleries and chapels, which belong to different times of construction, and in style belong to different eras. The Vatican Palace is a treasure trove of architecture, painting and sculpture, the main attraction of the Vatican. In the palace you can count more than 20 courtyards, 12 thousand different rooms, as well as more than 200 staircases.

If you look at the palace from above, its appearance resembles the shape of an irregular quadrangle, which stretches in an oblique direction from south to north from the Church of St. Peter. On the eastern and western parts there are galleries that connect the Vatican and Belvedere palaces, and between them there are transverse galleries that divided the entire space into three courtyards. The oldest part of the palace is the southern one, the main entrance to which is located to the right of the colonnade of St. Peter, not far from the equestrian statue of Constantine the Great. The main staircase leads to the Royal Hall, through which you will enter the famous Sistine Chapel.

Services for tourists that will allow you to save or get more for the same money:

• Insurance: the journey begins with the choice of a profitable insurance company, allows you to choose the best option for your requirements;
• Flight: Aviasales are looking for the best tickets, you can also find promotions and sales of airlines in Aviadiscounter;
• Trains: reliable service for finding railway tickets ZHDBILET.COM;
• Residence: first, we select a hotel through (they have the largest database), and then we look at which site it is cheaper to book through RoomGuru from;
• Movements: you can book an inexpensive transfer to and from the airport, you can also rent a car on (Economybookings). In some countries, car rental can be cheaper than public transport (eg in Portugal);
• Entertainment: order excursions from local Russian-speaking guides around the world at

• The address: 00120, Vatican
• Telephone: +39 06 6988 3860
• Purpose: Palazzo
• Vatican Museums website: http://www.museivaticani.va

Apostolic Palace in the Vatican - This is the official "residence" of the Pope. It is also called the Papal Palace, and its official name is the Palace of Sixtus V. In fact, this is not one building, but a whole "collection" of palaces, chapels, chapels, museums and galleries, built at different times, in different styles. They are all located around Cortile di Sisto V.

The Apostolic Palace is located to the north-east. Next to it are two more famous ones - the Gregorio XIII Palace and the Bastion of Nicholas V.

A bit of history

It is not known exactly when the Apostolic Palace was built, the data differ quite seriously: some historians believe that some parts of the southern, oldest part of it were erected at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th centuries during the reign of Constantine the Great, others - that it is much " younger ”and was built in the 6th century. The colonnade dates back to the 8th century, and in 1447, under Pope Nicholas V, the old buildings were mostly demolished, and a new palace was erected in their place (with the "participation" of some old elements). It was completed and rebuilt many times, until the end of the 16th century - quite actively, but in the 20th century it was also completed (for example, under Pope Pius XI, a separate monumental entrance to the museum was erected).

Raphael's Stanzas

4 small rooms, painted by Raphael and his students, were named Stanze di Rafaello - (the word "stanza" is translated as a room). These rooms were decorated at the direction of Pope Julius II - he chose them as his personal chambers, not wanting to live in the rooms in which Alexander VI lived before him. There is a legend that some murals on the walls already existed, but Julius, amazed by Raphael's skill, ordered to knock down all the other murals and instructed the artist to completely decorate the room - although Raphael was only 25 years old at that time.

The first room is called Stanza delo Senyatura; it is the only one of the four that has retained its original name - the rest are now named after the main theme of the frescoes that decorate them. Signature in translation means “to sign”, “to put a seal” - the room served as an office, in it the Pope read the papers sent to him, signed them and sealed his signature.

The artist painted the room in the period from 1508 to 1511, it is dedicated to human self-improvement, and 4 frescoes reflect 4 areas of such activity: philosophy, justice, theology and poetry.

The painting of Stanza d "Eliodoro was executed from 1511 to 1514; the theme of the painting is the divine protection given to the Church and its servants.

The third stanza is named after Inchendio di Borgo - after one of the frescoes, which depicts a fire in the Borgo quarter, adjacent to the papal palace. All the frescoes here are dedicated to the deeds of the popes (including the fresco dedicated to the fire - according to legend, Pope Leo managed to stop not only panic, but also fire with the sign of the cross). Work on its painting was carried out from 1514 to 1517.

The last stanza - Sala di Konstantino - was completed by Raphael's students, since the artist died in 1520. The composition is dedicated to the struggle of the first Roman Christian emperor Constantine against the pagans.

Belvedere Palace

It is named after the sculpture of Apollo Belvedere stored in it. Today he is in the palace. In addition to the world famous statue of Apollo, there are many other masterpieces, including the statue of Laocoon, Aphrodite of Cnidus, Antinous Belvedere, Perseus by Antonio Canova, Hercules, and other equally famous sculptures.

In total, the museum contains more than 8 hundred exhibits: the Hall of Animals contains about 150 statues depicting various scenes with animals (some of them are copies of famous antique statues, some are originals restored by the Italian sculptor Francesco Franzoni); it houses, among others, the original Greek statue depicting the torso of the Minotaur. The Hall of the Muses contains statues depicting Apollo and 9 muses. The statues are copies of ancient Greek originals dating from the 3rd century BC. There is also a cast from the Belvedere torso and statues of famous ancient Greek figures, including Pericles. The Hall of the Muses has an octagonal shape, surrounded by columns with the Corinthian order. No less attention than the sculptures themselves is attracted by the painting of the ceiling by Tomazzo Conca, it continues the plot theme created by the sculptures and depicts the muses and Apollo, as well as the famous poets of antiquity - Greek and Roman.

The painting of the walls of the gallery of statues was done by Pinturicchio and his students. There are statues of gods and goddesses, Roman emperors (Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, Nero, Caracalla, etc.), patricians and ordinary citizens, as well as copies of ancient Greek sculptures. The opposite ends of the gallery are decorated with two famous sculptures: Jupiter on the throne and sleeping Ariadne, and in addition to them, you can see such statues as the Drunken Satyr, Penelope's Lament and others. The Hall of Busts contains busts of famous Roman citizens and ancient gods, including the burial high reliefs of Cato and Portia. In total, there are about 100 busts and Renaissance frescoes in the hall.

Also noteworthy are the Hall of the Greek Cross (named after the figure it represents in the plan), the Cabinet of Masks, the Rotunda with a giant monolithic porphyry bowl installed in it, the Cabinet of Apoxymenos.

In front of the Belvedere Palace there is a cone-shaped fountain - the work of Pirro Ligorio, and the place where it is located is named. Until the beginning of the 17th century, the cone adorned the Champ de Mars in Paris, but in 1608 it was transported to the Vatican and installed in front of the entrance to the Belvedere Palace. She is an allegory of the creation of the world.

In addition to the pine cone, the square is decorated with an absolutely modern sculpture Sfera con Sfera - "Sphere in the Sphere" by Arnaldo Pomodoro, installed in the early 90s of the last century. The four-meter outer bronze sphere contains an inner rotating sphere, on which a pattern is applied, visible through the "holes" and "holes" in the outer sphere. She personifies the Earth in the Universe and encourages you to reflect on the truth that everything that all the destruction that causes your planet finds a response in the outside world.

Built during the reign of Pope Sixtus IV (construction began in 1473 and was completed in 1481) and named after him, and on the day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on August 15, 1483, it was consecrated. Before her, there was another chapel in this place, in which the papal court gathered. The idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a new chapel, more fortified and capable of withstanding a siege, if necessary, came from Sixtus IV in connection with the constant threats of an attack on the east coast of Italy by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, as well as in connection with the presence of a military threat from the Signoria de Medici.

However, fortification was fortified, and the decoration of the chapel was not forgotten either: the wall frescoes were made by Sandro Botticelli, Penturicchio and other famous artists of that time. Later, under Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the vault (it depicts the creation of the world), lunettes and stripping. The biblical scenes "The Brazen Serpent", "David and Goliath", "Kara Amana" and "Judith and Holofernes" are depicted on four strikings. Michelangelo completed the work in a fairly short time, despite the fact that he positioned himself as a sculptor, and not as a painter, besides, during the work, various difficulties arose (some of the frescoes had to be knocked down due to the fact that they were covered with mold - wet plaster, on which they were applied, it turned out to be susceptible to mold formation, later a different solution was used, and the frescoes were painted again).

Upon completion of the painting of the vault, on October 31, 1512, a solemn Vespers was served in the new chapel (on the same day and the same hour 500 years later, in 2012, Vespers was repeated by Pope Benedict XVI). It is not surprising that it was Michelangelo who was also commissioned to paint the altar wall. The works were carried out by the master from 1536 to 1541; the scene of the Last Judgment is depicted on the wall.

Since 1492 - since the conclave at which Rodrigo Borgia was elected Pope, who became Pope Alexander VI - Conclaves have been held regularly in the Sistine Chapel.

Papal apartments

The apartment where the Pope lives and works is at the very top; some of the windows overlook. They consist of several rooms - an office, a secretary's room, a reception room, a bedroom, a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen. It also houses a large library, a chapel and a medical office, which is important given the age at which cardinals are usually elected by popes. However, Pope Francis refused the papal chambers and lives in the residence of Santa Marta, in a two-room apartment.

In the Apostolic Palace there is one more “papal chambers” - apartments that belonged to the notorious Pope Alexander VI - Borgia. Today they are part of, open to the public for tourists, and the paintings made by Pinturicchio attract particular attention.

How to visit the Apostolic Palace?

You can visit the Apostolic Palace on weekdays and Saturdays from 9-00 to 18-00. An adult ticket costs 16 euros, you can buy it at the box office until 16-00. On the last Sunday of the month, the museum can be visited from 9-00 to 12-30 absolutely free.