A Papal Audience

St Peter's Basilica

Mussolini might not have had much going for him, but one thing he did do that was pretty useful was he knocked all the buildings down along the road leading to the Vatican giving it a wonderful aspect on approach.

St Peter's Basilica

St Peter's is said to have been built on the site where Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, was crucified. Bernini remodelled the square to its present shape and design. When I was visiting, the Pope was due to give his Wednesday mass. I took the opportunity to duck straight into the museums and Sistine Chapel, with no queue!

The long gallery in the Vatican Apartments is covered is frescoes and paintings. No photo can show the depth of work and the grandeur of the gallery.

The Vatican apartments now contain a series of museums. Above is a Dali - which most people miss as they pass quickly through to get to the Sistine Chapel. This particular room contain several of his works.

Several of the apartments contained frescoes by Raphael (now buried in the Pantheon). This work (above) is of the Greek philosophers - with Socrates standing pointing upwards.

The Sistine Chapel

The main attraction is, of course, the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo painted the ceiling standing up on scaffolding over a 3 year period. The work is a series of frescoes, painted on drying plaster - causing the colour to become embedded int he plaster and intensified as it dried. It is am amazing work for the sheer scale alone. The above photo is a bit blurred as you aren't allowed to take pictures in the chapel and I snuck this one while the guard wasn't looking.

Michelangelo returned almost 30 years later to paint The Last Judgement on the wall above the alter. By this time some of the steam was going out of the renaissance and so the mood of this fresco is noticeably darker.

I don't know how Michelangelo managed (apparently the demands of Pope Julius and the physical exertion of the job itself nearly killed him); my neck was sore after looking up for 30 minutes.

The Swiss Guard

The Swiss Guard for the Papal bodyguards. They still wear very medieval costume, and look kinda goofy.

Il Papa

Pope Benedict XVI gives mass when he's in town, every Wednesday. There was a reasonably large crowd in St Peter's Square, probably 5000 or so. One of the helpers reads out the names of groups who have made the pilgrimage to hear mass, much to their football-like cheers. A short homily is read out by the Pope in about 5 or 6 languages (in turn), followed by a blessing.

The Pope on the big screen

Feeling radiant after being blessed

Even for a non-catholic, it was kinda good to see the Pope giving mass. I guess that's why you come to the Vatican. I couldn't go inside St Peter's basilica as mass was being given - it saved me climbing the 320+ stairs into the dome....