Blog #7

Today we visited the Vatican Museum! I could probably write you a book on the amount of things that were in that museum but I won't make you endure that. Instead, I'm going to tell you about the Sistine Chapel. As some of you might know, you are not allowed to take pictures in the Chapel, (even though I saw like 4 people trying to sneakily take some tisk tisk) so I won't have any of my own pictures to add to this blog post! 

The Sistine Chapel for those of you who do not know, is a large chapel in the Vatican Palace, the place in Italy where the pope lives. The Chapel was built between 1473 and 1481 by Giovanni dei Dolci for Pope Sixtus IV. The Sistine Chapel is most famous for its fresco paintings by Michelangelo. 

Outside of the Sistine Chapel (and part of the Museum)

The ceiling of the Chapel is the most famous part. The first time I saw it, I was overwhelmed with where to look first and shocked at its beauty. No image that you can find online or on a postcard can come close to the real deal.

Stunning ceiling

Michelangelo was a famous sculptor not a painter. So why the heck would a sculptor agree to paint this? At first, he didn't. Three years later after a lot of convincing and begging, he agreed to paint the ceiling. He worked from 1508 to 1511, standing on a high platform with his arms stretched above his head. I think I would call it quit about 45 minuets into this 4 year project. 

Let's talk about the layout of the ceiling briefly. Along the centre of the ceiling are nine painted pictures that tell stories from the Book of Genesis from the Bible. The stories start with three pictures of God making light, making the Earth, the Sun and the Moon, and making the Sea and Sky.

Following that, the next three tell the story of Adam and Eve. The first scene is making Adam and God reaches out his hand and touches his finger to give him Life.

In the next picture, Adam is asleep and God makes Eve from one of Adam's ribs.

In the third picture there are two scenes. Adam and Eve are tricked by the devil to eat fruit from the tree that they have been told not to touch. In the other scene, an angel chases them out of God's Garden of Eden, telling the story of how sin came into the world. 

The last three pictures are about Noah's Ark. But the painting doesn't end here for Michelangelo. In 1537 Pope Paul III orders him to paint another giant fresco behind the alter. He painted The Last Judgement. Showing Jesus judging the people on Earth and sending some to Hell and others welcomed into Heaven. 

He painted most of the figures naked. But of course this made the church angry. They tried to get someone to paint over the naked bodies with clothes but many people refused until someone finally said yes and painted clothes on many of the figures. Kind of a bummer that they messed with his beautiful art. What do you think?