Vatican Museums - Renaissance

Our tour of the Vatican Museums moved on from the Classical world into more of the Renaissance.  The building stretches much longer than it is wide, and so the next room, the tapestries room, acts as a hallway about the length of a football field with beautifully woven tapestries on either side.  These tapestries, like a great painting from the time, depict various scenes, mostly biblical stories.  The detail put into each one inspires awe, they rival oil paintings for their lifelike realism and beauty.  One that particularly stands out in my mind is a scene of Harod proclaiming all the boys under the age of two be killed, and the anguish of the mothers and children envelopes the space around it.  In a way, these tapestries give a near three dimensional feel, some sort of texture to their scenes, completely unique to the art form.  On a somewhat creepier note, something about that depth can give you the feeling like the eyes can follow you.

Down an equally long hall lies the map room.  Alex especially love maps, and we enjoyed seeing these wall size panels and the details early cartographers put into these maps, mostly of Italy.  The pope needed to have a great deal of knowledge of the lay of the land while executing his roles, and the room definitely kept him informed.

Another thing to note about these rooms; the hallways themselves deserve accolades for their craftsmanship.  From wallpaper to ceiling decor, each detail trumpets the skill of the artisan involved.  So much to take in deserves appreciation that the few hours we spent there just cannot give justice, and my failing words are only a faint shell of a description.

At some point, I'm unsure just where, we stepped out on a patio and in the darkness got a great view of St. Peter's dome.  I knew seeing the basilica would be amazing, I did not know how profound the museum's masterpieces would effect me, and some of the most notable parts stood before us.  We reflected on our blessings to get to do this so early in our lives, and wondered about what adventures await us in the coming years.

Our tour brought us next to a room of "epic paintings"  -- like every painting seen thus far wasn't epic enough.  In this case, the title speaks more to the dimensions of the painting and not the magnitude or quality of the work, though each displayed incredible mastery and most certainly requires something of a unique skill set.  A painter must be quite talented to paint standing on stairs to reach the top of his 20 foot work and still integrate all the sections seamlessly.

Next came the room of the Immaculate Conception.  Frescoed after the papal decree of the Immaculate Conception (which is the doctrine that Mary was born without original sin), the works are some of the latest in the collection, the walls depict scenes from the life of Mary.  In the center of the room is a wooden structure containing the original decree.  Of all Catholic teaching, the treatment of Mary is the most difficult for my Protestant mind to wrap my head around.  The room was awe-inspiring, but its hard for me to find the rationale.

The so-called Raphael rooms come next.  Pope Julius II, recognizing the talents of a then young and relatively unknown Raphael, commissioned him to fresco his private apartments.  Some of the most well known works of art in the Western canon resulted from this decision.

Many readers might recognize the School of Athens, which portrays many of the heavy hitters of the Renaissance portrayed as the Greek philosophers from whom the Renaissance drew so much of its inspiration.  In the center, Leonardo da Vinci plays Plato conversing with Aristotle (a lesser known contemporary to the modern reader, Guiliano da Sangallo).  An interesting story we heard says Raphael originally wasn't going to include Michelangelo in the painting (today's misunderstood, tortured artists who feel they must suffer for their art and don't hold candle to Michelangelo).  After sneaking a peak at Michelangelo at work down the hall (where the Sistine Chapel started taking form), Raphael begrudgingly found a spot for him in the school of Athens (bottom center, with his head on his hand.)

Of course many of the other walls must receive some note.  Readers might recall that the Cathedral of Orvieto housed a relic commemorating a miracle where the Eucharist took the form of flesh and blood.  The connection between this painting and an earlier stop on our trip really appealed me.  Speaking of transubstantiation, Raphael provides an excellent depiction of this doctrine which so clashes with my Protestant sensibilities in another of his works.  I also really  enjoyed scenes from the life of Constantine and the incredible meeting between Pope Leo and Atilla the Hun.

But we really must move on.  The last room claims the most notoriety, the Sistine Chapel.  This room still serves as the meeting place where the Cardinals choose a new pope, imagine the civilization altering questions and decisions made in this room.  The gravity of the importance of those decisions might just knock you backward before the marvel of Michelangelo's handiwork gets a hold of you.  Once it does, you are imported into a whole new world.

My knowledge of the chapel before this trip came from that iconic image of God reaching out his hand to Adam, and I originally thought the entire ceiling would be that painting.  In reality, the ceiling is partitioned into ten panels, each one depicting some scene from Michelangelo's conception of a history of everything, from creation to the coming of Christ.  The front wall, its entirety, displays the final judgement.  In the corners and arches, Michelangelo places the patriarchs and prophets.  The side walls (not done by Michelangelo) reenact scenes from Christ's earthly ministry, and we enjoyed going around the room and surmising what story was depicted where.

We had enough time left on our tour to go back and view some of the antiquities again, especially Laocoon, but the Vatican was definitely the climax of our trip.  There was a group playing music in the courtyard so we sat on a bench listening to an Italian opera singer attempt Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World.  Tomorrow we would be heading home, and there was definitely something akin to sadness in the fact that we would be returning to our routine lives.  But what an incredible 2 weeks it has been seeing and experiencing just a corner of this wonderful world.

After we left the Vatican Museums we were giddy.  We couldn't quite wrap our minds around what we had just experienced.  We celebrated by stopping and getting our second gelato cones of the day but after all we had Euro change we needed to spend and there is not a better way to blow a few coins than licking gelato, walking the streets of Rome with your incredible spouse, and discussing the events of the day.  We lay in bed that night and couldn't sleep.  We were heading back home in the morning to small town Kansas.   A part of us wondered what we could do in the rest of our lives that would ever match the experience.

My, it was a blast, and the memories from the trip continue to inspire and motivate.  It reminds that the best things in life are so much more valuable than the easily obtainable, it makes me want to reach for the best.  I certainly don't also do the best at it, but the thought of David sure makes it more likely that I'll reach for a good book instead of passing the time idly on Netflix.  Memories of the Uffizi goad me onward while exercising, the taste of authentic carbonara reminds me there is something so much better than my fast food cravings.  I don't think someone could look at my life and say it has markedly changed since this vacation, but I like to think that things are still fulminating.  Anyway, we look forward to more travels, and more adventures with each other.  Omnia Vincit Amour.

Vatican Museums - The Classical World

After a well-timed stop for gelatto, we waited patiently outside the Vatican Museum entrance.  Going in the evening meant only a limited number of people would be allowed in, a wonderful reprise from the crowds who otherwise would all rightly be clamoring to see some of the world's most impressive art.  The Catholic church preserved much of the classical world at a time where no governing authority or other power could.  Drawing on the writings of Augustine, it was policy that the works of the pre-Christian world not be treated as pagan idolatry that would pervert the faithful, but as masterpieces created by beings made in God's image, through admiring the handiwork of his image bearers we might come to worship the One in whose image we are made.

Neither of us really knew what we were in for, but nonetheless we were darn near giddy with anticipation.  At last the doors opened, inviting us into something akin to a new world.  We first viewed what previously served as the Pope's private gardens, an open roofed room of peaceful contemplation.  In protected areas encircling the center, where a fountain stood, rests some of the most spectacular sculptures of the ancient world extant today.

A personal favorite is Laocoön and His Sons, which captures a scene from the Illiad where the Greek gods send snakes to stop Laocoön from warning the Trojans that the Greeks waited to ambush their city from inside the wooden horse they presented as a peace offering.  His face speaks of his anguish, not only at the ending of his own live and the lives of his children, but at the fall of his country.  I find myself thinking of it often when I turn on the news and see some of the events unfolding in my own country. 

This and the other statues surrounding it all date back to around the time of Christ, 1500 years before Michelangelo would ever pick up his chisel.  The quality of the work speaks to how Roman advancements in government translated into the arts, the likes of which would not be seen again in Europe in millennia.  When that quality of art did reemerge, it was through artists looking back at the ancients.  You can see this when you compare the sculpture of the river god, found in this garden, to Adam's reclined position in the Sistine Chapel, which we'll get to in a little bit.  

Moving on a little ways, the collection houses an incredible amount of artifacts from ancient Egypt,

which mummies and sarcophagi galore.  We also saw a huge collection of busts from the ancient world, and it was fun to see the bust of Socrates I've seen so often in books right in front of me.  

The other thing that really captured my imagination in the classical world section of the museum was the objects made of porphyry.  Porphyry is a very hard igneous rock, so hard in fact that it took special tempering techniques to make tools that could carve it.  Purple, or royal porphyry, comes from only a few places on earth, only one of which the Romans knew, so it was very rare in the empire.  Nonetheless, the Vatican museum houses some extraordinarily large pieces of porphyry artifacts, a huge basin 13 meters across in what is known as the round hall (statues, including a bronze of Hercules, surround it), and two enormous sarcophagi, believed to be of Helena and Constance, mother and sister of Constantine.

Helena and Constance were believed to be early converts to Christianity, and their influence might  have helped lead to the conversion of Constantine.  Much has been written of the legend of Constantine having a conversion experience because of a vision he had before the battle of Milvian Bridge, and whether his conversion was sincere (he apparently used the symbol of the Roman sun god when expedient afterwards).  The influence of Helena (since sainted) and Constance seems to me the far more likely story, and if so, these two people, little thought of for their own deeds, changed the world through their steady consistent witness.  Rome is such a wild ride for a history buff, where every few feet is the site of an event that forever shaped the world of today; the crowning of Charlemagne, the assassination of Caesar, the imperial palace, the arch of Titus.  You could rightly through the lives of these two women into that list.

Anyway, next on our travels, we will explore some of the art more contemporary with the Renaissance.  Omnia Vincit Amour.

Ostia Antica

Friday morning we awoke and were able to have a leisurely breakfast since Arthur wasn't in a toot to get to St. Peter's before the doors opened.  We were on our way to Ostia Antica, the ancient ruins of Rome's harbor on the sea about 30 minutes outside of Rome.  On our way we decided to jump off the subway and see another church, Santa Maria del Popolo.  The main draw to see this church was that it is home to two Caravaggio paintings-- and Alex the tour guide is a Caravaggio groupie.  The two paintings are the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter.  Another delight was seeing Bernini's Daniel and the Lion.  The previous day at the Borghese Gallery we had seen works by Caravaggio and Bernini but it is also fun to see the works where they were originally intended for use-- the church-- instead of a gallery.

 The church is also at one end of the Via del Corso which is Rome's main shopping drag so we decided to do some shopping.  There was a day market set up in the piazza and the scarves on display caught Alex's eye so we did our Christmas shopping for the women in our families and were able to stuff 7 scarves in our day pack.  It was a little ironic that we were next to a few Chinese tourist who seemed very excited to buy Italian scarves with tags that said Made in China.

Next we made our way through Rome's public transportation network to get on the commuter train heading out to Ostia.  It was a wonderful place to people watch.  The gal next to us was Russian, someone of Middle Eastern decent was across the aisle.  One car down someone had pulled out their violin and was playing.  And Italians in general are fun to watch since they are so emotive.  We jumped off our train and then quickly walked to the site, especially when we saw a few large tour buses and another field trip approach.

Ostia Antica is thought to have been founded in around 700 BC and the earliest remains date to the 4th century BC.  While it is not grand and stately ruins like the Colosseum or the Forum it is a well preserved area that demonstrates daily life in ancient Rome.  What amazed us most was the size of the excavation.  Currently it covers about 50 acres but they are predicting that only 2/3 of the ruins have been unearthed at this time-- you never really now what is underneath your feet.   The other glorious part, at least for Alex, was that with the ruins being outside of Rome, significantly fewer tourists make the journey to see it.  After two days of navigating the mobs in Rome it was nice to meander and explore virtually by ourselves.

Ostia Antica was the port city where the Tiber met the sea.  Over the years the river changed course, the harbor fill with silt, and the area became a swamp with the mud preserving the ancient city.  We walked through the ancient city gates and past the necropolis or city of the dead which would have been the cemetery.

We then wandered down the main drag to the baths, complete with intact mosaic floor.

At the center of the city there was the theater as well as the market stalls for the items shipped into the port.  The mosaics here denoted what was sold in each stall.

Next we stopped by the mill, complete with mill stones.

There were also apartment buildings that were two or three stories tall and what would have been a fast food joint with pictures on the wall to serve as the menu.

And of course the Romans had great infrastructure including this twenty seat latrine with running water.

Alex especially enjoyed just wandering the quiet street and seeing birds and trees.  We could wander blocks upon blocks of these archaeological discoveries-- just the sheer size of the area was impressive.

When we headed back to Rome we didn't have any set plans for the afternoon other than a leisurely lunch and hopefully attending Mass at St. Peter's at 5pm.  We found a restaurant for lunch and since it was after the lunch crowd we were able to sit a one of the tables on the sidewalk.  The idea of eating your dinner as people hurry by on the sidewalk next to you and cars whiz pass on the other doesn't seem relaxing but when you are absorbed in eating pizza bianca and some delicious pasta it doesn't matter.  We also indulged in tiramisu for dessert since that was on our list of must try foods while in Italy.

The Vatican was such a great experience that we decided to head back and go to Mass.  Mass was at 5pm and when we arrived to the line it was probably around 3:30.  Luckily we were standing next to a couple from the New England and enjoyed trading travel stories with them as we waited to make it through the line for security.  

We finally were in St. Peter's about 30 min before Mass and tried to work our way to the front altar where it was to be held.  There were barricades up and then a procession started through the nave trapping us in a Catholic mosh pit.  People were pushing and shoving or using their selfie sticks to try to get shots of the procession.  The guards were then very selective on who could go through the barricades for the Mass-- it had to be for worship.  In talking to the guard I found out that the Mass was expected to take 2 hours- or that is just what they were saying to keep the riffraff out.  We had reservations at the museum at 7pm so we couldn't stay that long so we pushed our way through the masses for Mass and left.  

Arthur suggested we go see the a few of the churches down the street.  At this point the crowds, the lines, the people trying to sell things, and maybe even the excessive churches had gotten to Alex and she had a melt down and refused to go to any more churches.  Arthur, being the wise husband he is, decided that the best remedy for a wife that is about to lose it is to get her gelato and luckily there was a great gelato shop just around the corner of the Vatican.  Alex cooled down eating her Nutella gelato on a quiet sidwalk and was then ready to move on to the last stop on our Italy adventure-- The Vatican Museums.

Roamin' with the Romans

After spending the early morning taking in the wonders of St. Peter's, Rome's streets beckoned us to walk its busy streets.  As we left the sacred space of St. Peter's we joined the day-to-day hubbub of the neighborhoods of Rome.  Our first stop was a viewpoint overlooking the city.  Since Arthur had decided we needed to get to the Vatican before breakfast, we picked up some pastries.  We then ventured down some residential streets until we wandered into a daily market.  We perused the goods and purchased some grapes and peaches. Arthur then proceeded to eat about 2 pounds of the best grapes in the world.  We also had run out of our travel size toothpaste so we picked up some on the island in the middle of the Tiber River.  It makes us feel very exotic when we use it even now.

Next stop was  the historic Jewish Ghetto, the Roman neighborhood separated from the where Jewish settlers historically resided, often through prejudicial laws.  Here many historic injustices occurred.  The Jews were confined to the ghetto for over 300 years by the Catholic church and then in 1943 when the Nazis occupied Rome over 2000 people who lived here were rounded up in the piazza we were strolling through and taken away to concentration camps.  Like so many others in the face of injustice, the site also boasts of the resiliency of a people to make lives for themselves and their children in the face of such oppression.  In the midst of this site rises the Great Synagogue, as well as the Turtle Fountain, often attributed to Bernini.

After crossing the Tiber River we were in Trastevere-- the quintessential Roman neighborhood.  It is out of the city center and the ancient district with no significant sightseeing stops except for the charm and character.  We wandered the back allies, peered into some shop windows, watched the older women sitting outside their apartments chatting, and dodged vespas.

 Two churches in this area date back to 300 AD and were originally house churches for the early Christians.  Some of the pillars were scavenged from ancient temples, mosaics from the 14th century,  and alters and bell towers from around 1800 made this churches an interesting architectural collage-- just like most of Roman with layers of history.  We stopped for lunch at a street side cafe and had amazing carbonara.

After stopping for lunch, we next went on Rick Steves' "Heart of Rome" walking tour.  This tour started out around Campo de Fiore (the field of flowers), a large marketplace of produce and, well, flowers.  The statue of Giordano Bruno, an early heretic eventually killed for his believes by the religious authorities, stands out in Arthur's memory.

It seems amazing that Rome, so predominantly Catholic, chose to immortalize a famous heretic in one of its main markets, but he now serves as a symbol of the hard fought fight for freedom of religion.  As Americans, we sometimes think of our own heritage, be it the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth or Roger Williams founding Providence, as the complete story of the establishment of religious freedom.  In reality, the story goes much farther back, with millions dead as Europe struggled to learn to live with the differences caused by the Protestant/Catholic split.  We could go much further back, perhaps even to Cyrus the Great or further, but that post shall wait.

Our walk of Rome led us past several fountains.  Like true tourists, we tossed a coin into the Trevi fountain in hopes of returning once again to Rome.  More than anything else, the novelty of roaming the streets together in this ancient, bustling city is the memory of that afternoon.  We had walked portions of this walk the day before in the early morning to see the Pantheon and the churches in the area.  The picture on the left is at around 8:30 in the morning and above is about 3pm. Once again starting our early days made a difference as mid afternoon was a completely different experience with tour groups crowding the streets.  Silly tourists. 

We ended up cutting the walk a bit short so we could get to the Borghese on time.  The Borghese boasts some of the most remarkable pieces of art we saw on the entire trip.  Thus far, we have really sung the praises of Michelangelo, but man, Bernini did some amazing things in sculpting.  His Apollo and Daphne, capturing the beginning transformation of Daphne into a tree, is beyond what either of us believed possible in marble. In the room right next to it, his David is milliseconds away from unleashing a world of hurt on a certain unsuspecting giant.  Another incredible piece, not a Bernini, worth mentioning is a reclining Venus, whose mattress, though made of stone, is made to look as comfortable as any Serta sold in the States; the detail is astonishing.  We only had two hours in the Borghese, the block off times to keep crowds manageable, but the time was well spent and well worth it.

Night was breaking as we left, and Rome at night is even more beautiful than during day.  We stopped by a pastry shop for some cannoli, and munched happily on our treats overlooking the city from the Spanish Steps while people watching.  We especially enjoyed watching a group of tourists from Korea take selfies and enjoy themselves.  After a while we walked towards the Colosseum and viewed it lit up at night, an extraordinary sight.  Alas, the day must end, as shall this post.  Omnia Vincit Amour.

St. Peter's Dome

When we last left our awed travelers, they were standing next to Bernini's bronze canopy gazing up at the distant dome, tallest in the world, whose construction so flustered the architects of its day.  Bramante, the original architect, got things underway and his efforts earned him a spot in Raphael's School of Athens; Michelangelo, the same Renaissance man who we've spent a decent amount of time raving about, turned out to be one heck of an architect and foreman; he got the drum completed, but the dome would not be finished until 1590, a quarter century after his long an prolific life had ended.

The dome is lined with eight foot tall letters, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church" (in Latin, of course).  The curve of the dome extends and brings the eye centered on the lantern, held on high as if centered on the throne room of heaven itself.  The dome is the tallest in the world, and we were about to climb it.

It was almost a shame to leave the beautiful scene down on floor level.  The artwork, the history; I do not know how anyone would ever tire of this magnificent space.  We made our way to the steps and started our long climb.  Most of the way was quite enclosed, a fear of tight spaces would more likely overwhelm a person than a fear of heights.

That is, of course, until the first main opening right above the drum of the dome, those massive letters, TU ES PETRA..., right below your feet.  That canopy, three stories tall, felt a lot closer to the floor than to us.  I talked before about how St. Peter's plays with your sense of perception due to its large scale, that loss of scale is magnified great five stories in the air. The dome's interior is filled with mosaics of the apostles, it's "ribs" creating 16 distinct divisions and we enjoyed this close up view greatly.

We traversed on, the stairway now taking us inside the gap of the dome's inner and outer shell.  This gap was small enough that Arthur's shoulders were simultaneously touching the inner shell's outer surface and the outer shell's inner surface, but Arthur was undeterred.  Fortunately, the architects of the dome, showing a foresight beyond that of the builders of Giotto's tower, put in two parallel stairways, one for going up, one for going down, so Arthur didn't have to negotiate a crossing.

At last, the stairway ended, and we found ourselves on top of the wondrous dome, looking out over the eternal city.  It was breathtaking, and not just because of the height.  Here we stood, the legacy of genius and the labor of thousands beneath us, a city before us whose expansive history encompasses the founding and fall of the civilization from which the Western society in which we live and go about our lives began.  To look across that horizon spatially is to look back across eons, and the wonder never abates.

After a while, we headed back down, the morning's activity already the fulfillment of all we might hope for the experience.  The "down" stairs takes you to the doorway to the basilica's roof, so we walked along the top and got some great views of the dome.  We walked towards the facade and stood looked out over Bernini's columns, the arms of the church drawing the faithful inward.  What an incredible experience.

As amazing as the dome was, Rome is filled with much much more.  And so it was with awe and stupefaction that we continued on with the days activities.  Omnia Vincit Amour.