In 1929 Pope Pius and the Italian government formed a sovereign independent state with only 100 citizens and its own military called the Vatican City provided for under the Treaty of Lateran. The Pope originally was the bishop over all of Rome. Now the Pope's influence extends around the world and the popes have lived here for 6 centuries. The Vatican Museums were built where the papal palaces were in 1200AD and contain an enormous amount of treasures from antiquity and the Renaissance and the world's greatest art collection. before it was the papal palaces it was the mausoleum for the first century emperors, then it was turned into a fortressThere is a statue here of a warrior scraping olive oil and sand off his body. This is the first example of the Romans imitating the Greeks. There are many statues of Greek gods: Troy, Homer, Apollo, Athena, Hercules, and the Trojan Horse. The ancient Greek and Roman statues of animals represent fertility. Also there is a statue of Moses and the statue that Michelangelo used as his prototype for Jesus. The Vatican Library is richly decorated and only open to qualified researchers. The Vatican Gardens separate the Vatican from the outside world on two sides and covers 58 acres. It is filled with lush gardens, brilliantly colored flowers, massive oaks, many fountains and pools. It still has the medieval fortifications from the 9th century. The wall surrounding the Vatican was built by Pope Leo IV in the 9th century AD for protection. It is 10 feet thick and has a secret protected passageway the Pope escaped into the Castel Sant' Angelo, which is Hadrian's tomb, in 1537 when Rome was attacked. Piazza San Pietro, St. Peter's Square, gateway to the world's largest church, St. Peter's Basilica, is a 384 Doric pillared colonnade with 140 gesticulating saint statues on top. The statue of St. Peter shows him carrying the "keys of the kingdom", a story which the Popes invented. Nothing is written in the Bible to support it. An Egyptian obelisk from Heliopolis on the Nile River Delta is in the center of the square and is flanked by two 17th century fountains. Bernini needed to take down the old bell tower of the first St. Peter's in the 1620s to stabilize the Vatican since the land below it is marshy. The catacombs below are very moist and the priests buried there are now gone. The wall surrounding the Vatican was built from the 9th - 10th centuries by Pope Leo IV for protection. In the 12th - 13th centuries the King of France forced the papacy to move to Avignon, France. Surprisingly, the Lovre is patterned after the Vatican City. Pope Scion IV realized they needed a chapel to hold religious things so in 1475 he started the Sistine Chapel with a secret conclave to protect their treasures from thieves.. It was completed in 1481 and Pope Scion died in 1502 The Pope felt all the frescoes should represent righteous ethics: 1-the law of Moses, 2- the law after Moses, and 3- the law after Jesus Christ. Artists of the early Renaissance were the teachers of Michelangelo and Raphael who were the artists of the SIstine Chapel. The frescoes were painted in fresh plaster that dried in 10 minutes. Michelangelo hated to paint, but he was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint ceiling frescoes from Genesis from 1508-1512. He was on a scaffold 24-7! Michelangelo was paid when he had completed the whole chapel. He painted fake wooden beams to separate the panels, but you have to look really hard and still cannot tell the difference. If he hated to paint, can you imagine what he could do with a sculpture???? After he had completed the first 3 panels, Pope Julius pulled him down to floor level to show him how small he had made the figures. The other 6 panels he painted larger. In the first panel with the Garden of Eden Michelangelo painted a fig tree instead of an apple tree. The Bible never actually said an apple tree. Around the center panels are saints from the Old Testament predicting the coming of Jesus. One panel has Jonah and the whale, this signifies an afterlife. The marble gate at floor level originally marked where the 1st original sin was painted on the ceiling, and separated the priests from the people. Michelangelo went to Florence for 20 years and came back to paint the Last Judgment. Michelangelo was criticized by Monsignor Biagio because 1-Jesus looked too barbaric with a beard and 2- the people were naked and floating all around with no demarcation line between heaven and hell. So Michelangelo painted one of the nudes to look like Biagio and placed jackass ears on him in hell. When Biagio complained, the Pope said he had no jurisdiction in hell. Pope Clements II aligned with the French emperor and when they attacked the Last Judgment was destroyed. The Last Supper painted by Michelangelo shows Judas Iscariot on the other side.of the table from Jesus and the other disciples. We've never seen it presented that way.
The Vatican Museum, built of yellow stone which is now extinct, has many works of art from all over the world: Greek, Roman, statues of Homer, Apollo, the Trojan Horse, Moses, Athena, Troy and Hercules. The Romans loved Egyptian sculptures and Greek gods, therefore included chariots on a lot of their friezes. There are 2 Roman copies of the Egyptian sphinxs here. There is a statue of a warrior scraping olive oil and sand off his body. This is the first time the Romans imitated the Greeks. The Pope wanted the arm raised on the statue of David. Michelangelo, being a master of the torso, didn't agree because it would place the body out of proportion. But he had to do what the Pope wanted, so he knocked the arm off and recreated it. When the statue was excavated in the the 1960s, sculptor Pollack found the original arm and placed it on there not raised. The ancient Greek and Roman animal statues represent fertility. The Romans believed Romulus was from Euripedes and came here during the Trojan Wars. Therefore the Romans adopted the Greek statues and gods as their own (Apollo, Athena and Ajax). The Rotunda is a huge room similar to the Pantheon with mosaics. Here is a bronze Hercules with a club made from an olive tree and holding a lion's skin. This survived the Middle Ages even when everything else was melted down. Someone buried it under a marble slab and marked it with a symbol representing lightening. Margaret Usinof has written a book describing this. There is a huge tapestry room with works of art that are so detailed you cannot imagine how they could have been made by hand with threads. It is amazing that threads can show all the shades and shadows, almost as if it were painted! It takes needlepoint to a whole different dimension. In the Map room are ancient maps created by saints, one for each area of Italy. They were drawn by the two Dentis brothers sitting on top of donkeys. Surprisingly, they are 86% accurate! After they drew the maps, artists painted them.
There are 4 Basilicas in Rome: ST. Peter, ST.Paul, ST. John of Lateran, and ST. Mary Maggiore. To be considered a Basilica it must have a relic. The Basilica of ST. Peter is the largest church in the world. When you enter you just gasp at it's size and magnificence. in ancient Rome ST. Peter was crucified just to the left where the Circus of Nero was located. He was buried here in 64AD and in 324 AD Constantine had a basilica built over his tomb. It was rebuilt in the 1500 - 1600s in the baroque style. this was the time of MRtin Luther's Reformation and it was the way the popes needed to answer Luther. Baroque is what's old is polished up with a new dress. In the church is the famous Pieta that the French ambassador had Michelangelo sculpt when he was 23. He portrayed Mary as a young woman to convey her purity even though she was middle age at the time of Jesus' crucifixtion. Many people were in line to kiss the feet of the 13th century bronze of ST. Peter. The altar designed by Bernini has the largest, heavy stones at the bottom, halfway up it becomes bronze and at the top it is gold, pure light. This represents the passage from the human body and life with sins into heaven with all sins forgiven. The original wooden throne from the first ST. Peters is inside the bronze throne. The round red stone where Charlemagne was coronated is the only piece of the first ST. Peter's Basilica in the newer one. When a priest is embalmed the practice is to place the visceral into bottles which are stored in the church.
ST. Paul's Basilica is the second largest church in Rome and was built on top of Paul's grave outside of the city walls. It was expanded on in 510AD, but in 1823 a fire destroyed it all. It has been rebuilt exactly as it was in the 1300s. Outside it was a very pastoral setting with umbrella and Mediterranean pines that supply edible pine nuts and was the wood from which pinocchio was made.The palm trees planted represent Palm Sunday. There are additional holy days celebrated here: January 25th for Paul's conversion and June 29th for Paul's death.
On the Basilica's pediment are the Lamb of God and 12 smaller lambs to represent the 12 disciples.The Holy Door on the right is opened for one year every 25 years. This Byzantine Holy Door has 54 panels of the life of Jesus. It is 1000 years old and survived the fire. The windows are alabaster stone to allow in the most light but have the look of stained glass. A triumphant arch divides the nave from the altar. Jesus is in the center with Paul on the right and Peter on the left. At the altar in a box are the chains that held Paul in prison. Paul's sarcophagus and the one oil lamp that survived the fire are there also. These are the relics. The original wall from the first Basilica is in the back. Outside are placed pieces of the original marble and columns incorporated into the newer brick wall.
ST. John's Basilica of Lateran was the first Christian Basilica built in 314 AD. It was the original church of the popes and was built on top of the stables of the imperial guards defeated by Constantine. This is where the Pope celebrates Mass on certain Holy Days and it has been rebuilt many times. At the top are statues of Jesus and the apostles which are characteristic of the 18th century. Inside is the altar of the first 33 Popes when they prayed in secret. Borromini redecorated for Pope Innocent X: the ceiling is completely gold covered, the columns are doubled, are inside and the Popes are buried inside them. Traditionally, a Priest must sit on this throne before he can become the Pope. The relic here is a piece of wood from the Last Supper table placed above the altar.
The 28 Holy Steps brought to Rome by Helen, Constantine's mother, are the steps Jesus climbed when he was tried by Pontius Pilate. On the second step is the permanent stain of Jesus' blood. These steps used to be inside ST John of Lateran, but were moved across the street to the Palace of the Holy Steps in ST. John's Square. In order to be considered worthy you must climb the steps on your knees because you aren't holy enough to walk them. Also you must pray 3 prayers on each step which takes a minimum of one and a half hours. This is one of the holiest places in all of Christendom.
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (ST. Mary Major) is one of Rome's 4 major basilicas and was built by Pope Liberius in 358AD and rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III from 423 to 440AD. It was built on Equiline Hill because they had a snow storm in August and it laid on the ground in the shape of a basilica. It resembles an 18th century palace more than a church with the tallest campanile (bell tower) in Rome and 2 domes and 2 chapels. It is called Major because it is the largest of 26 churches in Rome dedicated to Mary. In the 1600s Rome had a bad plague. When Pope Gregory prayed to Mary and saw Archangel Michael in the heavens, the plague was lifted. Rome erected a column to Mary with an eagle and a dragon, the symbol of the Borghese family. Pope Paul V along with the Borghese family built the chapel and surrounded it with bronze angels.
The Holy Door is on the left because that is closest to the heart in a human body. The church's facade isn't fancy and elaborate as are the other 3 basilicas; so it's a surprise when you enter and view its treasures: the 5th century Roman mosaics in the nave, its coffered ceiling gilded with gold brought over by Columbus from the New World, its own "Sistine Chapel", and in the 17th century the Pauline Borghese Chapel. It has 36 original columns, of which 4 are granite. The stained glass is from the 20th century. The altar is from the 18th century, but the mosaics are from the 5th century. It is definitely a quilt of a church pieced together from different centuries. There is a painting of Jesus crowning Mary with both seated on a double throne. There are several scenes of Mary's life, including a scene with Mary crying for Jesus at his side after he was crucified and above it one with Mary holding a baby in white robes. The white means His soul is young in heaven. The relic is a piece of wood from Jesus' crib set in silver. Pope Pius 9th in 1854 is responsible for defining Mary as the "Immaculate Conception". In 1918 Pope Benedict hailed Mary the Queen of Peace to end World War I. The painting shows the dove of peace waiting to fly. Also is a painting of Mary holding up her hand to stop all war and Jesus holding up an olive branch.
Bernini's tomb is inside near the altar. if you don't know where to look, you will miss it. It is so simple when he did so many elaborate fountains and helped with the Sistine chapel. Bernini is the man who changes the look of Rome with his magnificent fountains. A bit of trivia: Bernini had 11 children and one son became a priest at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.
In conclusion, after viewing Rome you must understand that religion played a dominant role in shaping the world then as it still does today. Religion basically sets the moral rules that we live by. That is important to remember.
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