Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums

See more Art Collections. See best of Rome in Italy.

More holidays » Featured Holiday

Exclusive, small group tour of Rome, covering all the major sites as well as private visits and meals with local families.

6 days, from £1375 (Group tour). White Hat Tours »

This famously and meticulously decorated chapel is best known for its Michelangelos and for being the site of the Papal conclaves where decisions about papal succession are made.

Outside it’s a plain rectangular brick building without any of the flounces and adornments you might expect of such an important building of the church - who generally err on the side of grandeur, but inside it is divided into divinely ornate sections for painting dramatic gold gleaming murals upon. The chapel has three main levels, akin to a brimming art galley, ground level is mostly hanging frescos loving the gold and silver, the middle level has two complimentary sets of paintings depicting ‘The Life of Christ’ and ‘The Life of Moses’ and the top level has the papal portrait gallery and a section for the ancestors of Christ, which is an extension of Michelangelo’s famous ceiling. Like Mona at the Louve, there is more to the roof than the famous ‘Last Judgement‘, ‘Twelve Apostles’ and ’God Creates Adam’ . Divided into nine sections the roof depicts God’s Creation of the World, God’s Relationship with Mankind and Mankind’s Fall from Grace. Raphael was commissioned for the tapestries, and Boticelli, Ghirlandio and Perugino and their workshops also contributed to this truly astounding achievement in art.

Yes, you’ll have to queue, but this is one of the greatest displays of the genius of human endeavour and Michelangelo alone took about five years to complete his contribution to this amazing scene so I think you’ll cope with a bit of waiting.

Review by member romantic poet