Apostolic Palace. Papal palace, vatican, italy World masterpieces in the palaces of the Vatican

The audience halls are located on the third floor of the palace, among them the Clementine Hall, the Consistory Hall, the Large and Small throne rooms, the papal library (the Pope's office and a room for private audiences). On the fourth floor are the premises of the papal secretariat. The palace has more than 1000 rooms that are world famous for the greatest works of art they contain: the Sistine Chapel and its famous ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo (restored in 1980-1990) and Raphael's Stanzas.

Before the transfer of the capital of Italy to Rome, the Quirinal Palace served as the pope's summer residence. Another papal residence is located in the Lateran Palace, and in the town of Castel Gandolfo there is a country summer residence.

Construction history

There is no exact information about the beginning of the construction of the Vatican Palace: some attribute it to Constantine the Great, others attribute the original construction to the time of Pope Symmachus (VI century). It is only certain that during the arrival of Charlemagne to Rome for the coronation, the residence of Pope Leo III was the palace on the Vatican Hill; but then the palace was neglected and the pope's residence was moved to the Lateran Palace. Only since the return of the popes from Avignon (1377) has the Vatican become a permanent papal residence and expanded with a number of grandiose outbuildings.

Southern (oldest) part of the palace

The main entrance is located on the right wing of the colonnade of St. Petra, near the equestrian statue of Constantine the Great. The main staircase (scala Regia) with a magnificent Ionic colonnade (built under Urban VIII) leads to the Royal Hall (Sala Regia), which serves as a vestibule for the Sistine and Pauline chapels. The Sala Regia is decorated with beautiful frescoes by Vasari, Sammacini, the Zucchero brothers, Salviati and Sicchiolante.

The Pauline Chapel is remarkable for two frescoes by Michelangelo: "The Conversion of the Apostle Paul" and "The Crucifixion of St. Peter", significantly affected by the soot of wax candles. During Easter, a service is held here. On the second floor there are the famous lodges of Raphael and 4 rooms, the so-called Stanzas of Raphael, which Raphael and his students painted on behalf of Popes Julius II and Leo X (1508-20). The Hall of Constantine leads to the Sala de Chiroscuri (hall of chiaroscuro), from where they go on one side to the chapel of San Lorenzo, with frescoes by Fra Angelico, and on the other to the gallery of the Lodges. But the main route to the Lodge is from the courtyard of St. Damaz along the magnificent staircase of 118 steps, built under Pope Pius IX.

In the 19th century, in the 5 rooms of the third floor, behind Raphael's lodges, the Vatican Art Gallery was located, which contained a small number of paintings that are the best works of great masters. Then, on March 19, 1908, the Vatican Pinakothek was opened in one of the wings of the Belvedere Palace, for which a new building was built in 1932 by order of Pope Pius XI.

The Pope's own apartments and the audience hall are located around the courtyard of St. Damaz, from the side of the church of St. Peter.

Belvedere Palace

The Belvedere Palace is occupied by the Pius Clementine Museum. Two vestibules lead to the museum: a quadrangular one, with the famous Belvedere torso of Hercules, and a round one, from where a view of the panorama of the city of Rome opens. Next to the round vestibule is the hall of Meleager, where a statue of this mythical hunter is exhibited. From the circular vestibule one enters an octagonal courtyard surrounded by a portico supported by 16 granite columns. Sarcophagi, altars, fonts, bas-reliefs are placed under the portico - all of almost remarkable ancient work. World-famous statues flaunt in the quadrangular niches: Apollo Belvedere, Laocoön and his sons, Hermes Belvedere and Canova's Perseus.

From this courtyard one enters the gallery of statues, where among other works are Apollo of Saurokton and Cupid of Praxiteles, Sleeping Ariadne. From here, through the Hall of the Beasts (the so-called collection of wonderfully executed sculptural figures of animals), one enters the Hall of the Muses, octagonal, supported by 16 Carrara marble columns, with antique statues of Apollo of Massageta and the Muses found in Tivoli. The Hall of the Muses leads to the Round Hall, with a dome on 10 marble columns, with a floor made of antique mosaics found in Otricoli. In this hall there is a pool of red porphyry, one of a kind in size and beauty, statues of Antinous, Ceres, Juno, Hercules, etc. To the south of this hall is the hall of the Greek Cross, so called by its form; Here are the red porphyry sarcophagi of St. Helena and Constance.

From here one goes to the internal main staircase of the museum, built by Simoneti and decorated with 30 columns of red granite and two of black porphyry. The same staircase leads to the Egyptian Museum, founded by Pius VII, and to the 2nd floor, where the Candelabra Gallery and the Etruscan Museum, founded by Gregory XVI and occupying room 13, are located, with a rich collection of ancient Italian antiquities.

The staircase of the museum leads to the garden della Pigna. A semicircular niche is arranged in the end wall of the palace (architect Pirro Ligorio, 1560) with a bronze Roman fountain in the shape of a cone (Italian Pigna) of the 1st century, which gave the name to the whole garden.

Galleries Bramante and Braccio Nuovo

The northern end of the Bramante East Gallery and the Braccio Nuovo Gallery is occupied by the Chiaramonti Museum. Each side of the first gallery is divided into 30 compartments, furnished with a wonderful collection of statues, busts and bas-reliefs (Tiberius, Julius Caesar, Son, Silenus, etc.; busts: Cicero, Marius, Scipio Africanus, etc.). In the gallery of Braccio Nuovo there are statues of: Augustus, Claudius, Titus, Euripides, Demosthenes, Minerva and others; busts: Mark Antony, Lepidus, Adrian, Trajan, etc. From the gallery of Chiaramonte to the south, separated by one lattice, there is a museum of Inscriptions (more than 3000 monuments), founded by Pope Pius VII.

The following museums and halls are located in the Bramante Western Gallery: 1) The Museum of Secular Objects - a collection of antique utensils from various metals, bronze statuettes of idols, precious stones and carvings on ivory. 2) Museum of sacred objects - a collection of ancient church utensils found in the catacombs, etc. 3) Papyri cabinet. 4) Hall of the Aldobrandine wedding. 5) The Hall of Byzantine Artists, in which Gregory XVI placed a collection of paintings from the 13th and 14th centuries. 6) Numismatic cabinet.

The Arazzi Gallery on the second floor of the Bramante Western Gallery contains a precious collection of carpets made from Raphael's cardboards and depicting the deeds of the holy apostles.

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An excerpt characterizing the Apostolic Palace

“Here, eat, master,” he said, again returning to his former respectful tone and unwrapping and serving Pierre several baked potatoes. - There was stew at dinner. And the potatoes are important!
Pierre had not eaten all day, and the smell of potatoes seemed to him unusually pleasant. He thanked the soldier and began to eat.
- Well, so then? - the soldier said smiling and took one of the potatoes. - And here's how you are. - He again took out a folding knife, cut the potatoes into equal two halves in his palm, sprinkled salt from a rag and brought it to Pierre.
“Potatoes are important,” he repeated. - You eat like this.
It seemed to Pierre that he had never eaten food tastier than this.
“No, it’s all right for me,” said Pierre, “but why did they shoot these unfortunates! .. The last one was about twenty years old.
“Tsk, tsk…” said the little man. “That’s a sin, that’s a sin ...” he quickly added, and, as if his words were always ready in his mouth and inadvertently flew out of him, he continued: “What is it, sir, did you stay in Moscow like that?
I didn't think they would come so soon. I accidentally stayed, - said Pierre.
- But how did they take you, falcon, from your house?
- No, I went to the fire, and then they grabbed me, they tried me for an arsonist.
“Where there is judgment, there is untruth,” put in the little man.
– How long have you been here? asked Pierre, chewing the last potato.
– I that? That Sunday I was taken from the hospital in Moscow.
Who are you, soldier?
- Soldiers of the Apsheron regiment. He died of a fever. They didn't tell us anything. There were twenty of our people. And they didn’t think, they didn’t guess.
- Well, are you bored here? Pierre asked.
- How boring, falcon. Call me Plato; Karataev’s nickname, ”he added, apparently in order to make it easier for Pierre to address him. - Nicknamed Falcon in the service. How not to be bored, falcon! Moscow, she is the mother of cities. How not to get bored looking at it. Yes, the worm is worse than cabbage, but before that you yourself disappear: that’s what the old people used to say, ”he added quickly.
- How, how did you say it? Pierre asked.
– I that? asked Karataev. “I say: not by our mind, but by God’s judgment,” he said, thinking that he was repeating what he had said. And immediately he continued: - How do you, master, have patrimonies? And do you have a house? So, a full bowl! And is there a hostess? Are the old parents still alive? he asked, and although Pierre did not see in the dark, he felt that the soldier's lips were wrinkled with a restrained smile of affection while he was asking this. He, apparently, was upset that Pierre did not have parents, especially a mother.
- A wife for advice, a mother-in-law for greetings, but there is no sweeter mother! - he said. - Well, do you have kids? he continued to ask. Pierre's negative answer again, apparently, upset him, and he hastened to add: - Well, young people, God willing, they will. If only to live in the council ...
“But now it doesn’t matter,” Pierre involuntarily said.
“Oh, you are a dear person,” Plato objected. - Never refuse the bag and the prison. He settled himself better, cleared his throat, apparently preparing himself for a long story. “So, my dear friend, I was still living at home,” he began. “Our patrimony is rich, there is a lot of land, the peasants live well, and our house, thank God. The father himself went out to mow. We lived well. Christians were real. It happened ... - And Platon Karataev told a long story about how he went to a strange grove beyond the forest and got caught by the watchman, how he was flogged, tried and handed over to the soldiers. “Well, falcon,” he said in a voice that changed from a smile, “they thought grief, but joy!” Brother would go, if not my sin. And the younger brother himself has five guys, - and I, look, have one soldier left. There was a girl, and even before the soldiery, God tidied up. I came to visit, I'll tell you. I look - they live better than before. The yard is full of stomachs, women are at home, two brothers are working. One Mikhailo, the smaller one, is at home. The father says: “To me, he says, all the children are equal: no matter what finger you bite, everything hurts. And if Plato had not been shaved then, Mikhail would have gone. He called us all - you believe - he put us in front of the image. Mikhailo, he says, come here, bow at his feet, and you, woman, bow, and bow to your grandchildren. Got it? speaks. So, my dear friend. Rock heads looking. And we judge everything: it’s not good, it’s not okay. Our happiness, my friend, is like water in a nonsense: you pull - it puffed up, and you pull it out - there is nothing. So that. And Plato sat down on his straw.
After a few moments of silence, Plato stood up.
- Well, I'm tea, do you want to sleep? - he said and quickly began to cross himself, saying:
- Lord, Jesus Christ, Saint Nicholas, Frola and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ, Saint Nicholas! Frola and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ - have mercy and save us! - he concluded, bowed to the ground, got up and, sighing, sat down on his straw. - That's it. Put, God, a pebble, raise a ball, - he said and lay down, pulling on his overcoat.
What prayer did you read? Pierre asked.
- Ash? - Plato said (he was already asleep). - Read what? He prayed to God. And don't you pray?
“No, and I pray,” said Pierre. - But what did you say: Frola and Lavra?
- But what about, - Plato answered quickly, - a horse festival. And you need to feel sorry for the cattle, - said Karataev. - Look, the rogue, curled up. You've warmed up, you son of a bitch," he said, feeling the dog at his feet, and, turning again, immediately fell asleep.
Outside, weeping and shouting were heard somewhere in the distance, and fire was visible through the cracks of the booth; but it was quiet and dark in the booth. Pierre did not sleep for a long time and with open eyes lay in the darkness in his place, listening to the measured snoring of Plato, who lay beside him, and felt that the previously destroyed world was now being erected in his soul with new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations.

In the booth, which Pierre entered and in which he stayed for four weeks, there were twenty-three captured soldiers, three officers and two officials.
All of them then appeared to Pierre as if in a fog, but Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre's soul the strongest and dearest memory and personification of everything Russian, kind and round. When the next day, at dawn, Pierre saw his neighbor, the first impression of something round was completely confirmed: the whole figure of Plato in his French overcoat belted with a rope, in a cap and bast shoes, was round, his head was completely round, back, chest, shoulders, even the arms that he wore, as if always about to embrace something, were round; a pleasant smile and large brown gentle eyes were round.
Platon Karataev must have been over fifty years old, judging by his stories about the campaigns in which he participated as a longtime soldier. He himself did not know and could not in any way determine how old he was; but his teeth, bright white and strong, which kept rolling out in their two semicircles when he laughed (as he often did), were all good and whole; not a single gray hair was in his beard and hair, and his whole body had the appearance of flexibility and especially hardness and endurance.
His face, despite the small round wrinkles, had an expression of innocence and youth; his voice was pleasant and melodious. But the main feature of his speech was immediacy and argumentativeness. He apparently never thought about what he said and what he would say; and from this there was a special irresistible persuasiveness in the speed and fidelity of his intonations.
His physical strength and agility were such during the first time of captivity that he did not seem to understand what fatigue and illness were. Every day in the morning and in the evening, lying down, he said: “Lord, put it down with a pebble, raise it up with a ball”; in the morning, getting up, always shrugging his shoulders in the same way, he would say: "Lie down - curled up, get up - shake yourself." And indeed, as soon as he lay down to immediately fall asleep like a stone, and as soon as he shook himself, in order to immediately, without a second of delay, take up some business, the children, having risen, take up toys. He knew how to do everything, not very well, but not badly either. He baked, steamed, sewed, planed, made boots. He was always busy and only at night allowed himself to talk, which he loved, and songs. He sang songs, not like songwriters sing, knowing that they are being listened to, but he sang like birds sing, obviously because it was just as necessary for him to make these sounds, as it is necessary to stretch or disperse; and these sounds were always subtle, tender, almost feminine, mournful, and his face was very serious at the same time.
Having been captured and overgrown with a beard, he, apparently, threw away everything that was put on him, alien, soldierly, and involuntarily returned to the former, peasant, people's warehouse.
“A soldier on leave is a shirt made of trousers,” he used to say. He reluctantly spoke about his time as a soldier, although he did not complain, and often repeated that he had never been beaten during his entire service. When he told, he mainly told from his old and, apparently, dear memories of the "Christian", as he pronounced, peasant life. The proverbs that filled his speech were not those, for the most part, indecent and glib sayings that the soldiers say, but these were those folk sayings that seem so insignificant, taken separately, and which suddenly take on the meaning of deep wisdom when they are said by the way.
Often he said the exact opposite of what he had said before, but both were true. He loved to talk and spoke well, embellishing his speech with endearing and proverbs, which, it seemed to Pierre, he himself invented; but the main charm of his stories was that in his speech the simplest events, sometimes the very ones that, without noticing them, Pierre saw, took on the character of solemn decorum. He liked to listen to fairy tales that one soldier told in the evenings (all the same), but most of all he liked to listen to stories about real life. He smiled joyfully as he listened to such stories, inserting words and asking questions that tended to make clear to himself the beauty of what was being told to him. Attachments, friendship, love, as Pierre understood them, Karataev did not have any; but he loved and lived lovingly with everything that life brought him, and especially with a person - not with some famous person, but with those people who were before his eyes. He loved his mutt, loved his comrades, the French, loved Pierre, who was his neighbor; but Pierre felt that Karataev, in spite of all his affectionate tenderness for him (with which he involuntarily paid tribute to Pierre's spiritual life), would not have been upset for a minute by parting from him. And Pierre began to experience the same feeling for Karataev.

Several magnificent monuments of architecture and art at once formed the basis of a grandiose complex in Rome called the Vatican Palaces. Papal apartments, Catholic government offices, museums, the Vatican library and several chapels form the most magnificent monument in the world.

Vatican palaces. History pages

It was not possible to establish a temporary starting point from which the construction of the future residence of the heads of the Catholic Church began. One version attributes the beginning of construction to Constantine the Great, the other one connects the Vatican palaces with the residence of the apostles of the time of Symmachus (VI century). Of course, today there is no trace of that ancient building: numerous reconstructions and improvements have done their job. Initially, the building acted as a temporary residence for the popes (it was permanent) during periods of visits to St. Peter's Cathedral. The small palace gradually expanded and gained more and more importance for history. So, the emperors Otto I and Charlemagne in the 9th-10th centuries were crowned to rule the power in the Vatican Cathedral. In the era of Leo IV, the papal palace was surrounded by a fortress wall, which gave the complex the name "Lion City". True, the following centuries had a devastating effect on the building, and Popes Celestino III and Eugene III had to carry out a significant restoration of the structure.

The project to turn the building into a permanent residence for the heads of the church was initiated in the 13th century by Pope Innocent III. First of all, the permanent place of residence of the most holy men had to be well fortified. In this regard, the project was based on already existing defensive structures: the fortress walls of the city of Lion and the Castle of Sant'Angelo, associated with the palace, the so-called Borgo Corridor from the time of Pope Nicholas III. But before the palace in Rome becomes the official papal residence, it will take another century.

The end of the exile of the popes to France was marked by the return of Gregory XI to Rome in 1377. Since then, it was the Vatican that became the place of his permanent residence. The next two centuries passed in constant rebuilding and reconstruction of the papal home. Under Nicholas V in 1450, the residence was expanded: retaining all the existing buildings, a grandiose palace was erected, and the parrot yard was inscribed in its square. The new Vatican Palace boasted a huge number of rooms, the interior design of which was carried out by Piero della Francesca and Andrea del Castagno, and the Chapel of Nicholas V, decorated with frescoes with scenes from the life of Saints Lawrence and Stefan Beato Angelico. The halls of the first floor with access to the courtyard became the Vatican Library, which was founded in 1451. True, already 20 years later, the new Pope Sixtus IV commissioned the re-decoration of Ghirlandaio and Melozzo da Forli, finding a different use for the halls of the Vatican Library.
And in 1473, Giovanni de Dolce received from Pope Sixtus IV the task of building a chapel, later named, worthy of papal worship. Representatives of the Umbrian art schools, among which were Sandro Botticelli, Perugino and Pinturicchio, in 1481 - 1483 were engaged in the interior decoration of the chapel, performing two cycles about the life of Jesus and Moses in it at once.

The work of Nicholas V was completed by Alexander VI Borgia, on whose orders the Borgia Apartments were equipped in the 15th century. They consisted of six halls, three of which were "sheltered" by the Apostolic Palace, and three belong to the Borgia Tower, the decoration of which was entrusted to Pinturicchio and his students. All new halls were named according to the frescoes that decorated them:

The prophets and sibyls of the Hall of the Sibyls display the prediction of the coming of the savior;
The figures of the prophets and apostles adorn the Hall of the Creed, dedicated to Christianity;
The Hall of Liberal Arts was presented with frescoes depicting Quamrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music) and Trivia (rhetoric, grammar, dialectics) by Antonio da Viterbo;
The Hall of Saints houses frescoes by Pinturicchio depicting scenes from the lives of Christian martyrs and saints;
The halls of the Miracles of the Faith and the Pontiffs are decorated with frescoes and murals by Perin del Vaga, Giovanni da Udine.

By order of Inocentius VIII, the Belvedere Palace was also erected next to the Vatican. But the most large-scale transformations awaited the Vatican complex during the time of Pope and philanthropist Julius II, who instructed Bramante to unify the palaces of Innocent VIII and Nicholas V. The Belvedere Courtyard appeared as a result of the work carried out. The perspective of the courtyard (instead of the eskedra with two staircases previously made by Bramante) is blocked by a niche created by Pirro Ligorio in 1560. The loggias in the Courtyard of San Damaso, decorated with frescoes by Raphael, were also designed by Julius II. Thanks to the reconstructions carried out, the facade of the Apostolic Palace began to overlook St. Peter's Square. And it was under Julius II that Michelangelo decorated the vault of the Sistine Chapel with his frescoes in 1509-1512, and Raphael in 1508-1524. was engaged in painting Stanz (ceremonial halls).

The supremacy of Pope Sixtus V fell on the Baroque era, then Dominico Fontana created a modern residence, and the Belvedere was "cut" by the Cross Court. The beginning of the construction of the Regia Staircase and the Paolina Halls, designed by Bernini, began in the 17th century during the reign of Pope Urbane VIII. In the next century, work was carried out to create museums: the Museums of ecclesiastical and secular art, the Chiaramonti Museum and the Pio-Clementino Museum appeared. Already in the 20th century, under Pius XII, archaeological research was carried out under St. Peter's Cathedral, and under John XXIII, the construction of new museum halls for the collection of the Lateran Palace began.

Description of the complex Vatican Palaces

Given the long period of creation, the complex cannot be an integral monument of architecture and art. This is a collection of palaces, chapels, halls, galleries and courtyards belonging to different historical eras and architectural styles, preserving real treasures of sculpture, mosaic art and painting. The palace itself today has about 200 staircases, 20 courtyards and 12,000 different rooms.

The irregular quadrangle of the Vatican Palace stretches in an oblique direction from south to north from the columns of St. Peter. Two galleries uniting the Old Vatican with the Belvedere form the western and eastern longitudinal facades. The transverse galleries (Bracchio Nuovo and the Library Gallery) divide the space into 3 courtyards. The courtyard closest to the Vatican is called the Belvedere, and the Giardino della Pigna garden is laid out in the third distant courtyard. By the way, this is not the only garden of the complex. On the hillside near the villa of Pius IV, built by Pirro Ligorio, there is a garden Girardino Pontifico.

Ancient part of the Apostolic Palace

Not far from the equestrian statue of Constantine is the main entrance to the Apostolic Palace. The main staircase with an Ionic colonnade leads to the Royal Hall, which serves as a kind of vestibule for the Pauline and Sistine chapels. The truly royal decoration of the Hall itself are the frescoes of Salviatti, Vasari, the Zucchero brothers, Sammacini and Sicchiolante. But Michelangelo's frescoes "The Crucifixion of the Apostle Peter" and "The Conversion of the Apostle Paul" of the Pauline Chapel suffered quite a lot from the soot of candles, because Easter services are still held here today.

The second floor is famous for its halls and loggias painted by Raphael. The Hall of Constantine passes into the Hall of Chiaroscuro, from which you can get to the gallery of lodges on one side, and to the San Lorenzo chapel on the other side. True, the main road to the gallery of lodges remains the magnificent staircase of 118 steps leading from the Court of San Domaso.

The oldest part of the complex includes some of the Vatican Museums. So, back in the 19th century, the Vatican Art Gallery was located behind the Raphael Lodge in five rooms on the third floor, and in 1908 one wing of the Belvedere Palace was enriched with the Vatican Pinakothek.

The audience hall and the personal apartments of the Pope are located on the side of the Cathedral of St. Petra around the Court of San Domaso.

Vatican palaces. galleries

They have Vatican palaces and their own galleries. Galleries Braccio Nuovo and Bramante are the most famous galleries of the Vatican, given over to the Chiaramonti Museum. On each side, the Bramante Gallery is divided into 30 parts, furnished with bas-reliefs, busts and statues of Caesar, Ciciro, Tiberius and others. The Braccio Nuovo Gallery stores busts and statues of Trajan, Augustus, Titus, Hadrian, Mark Antony and other personalities. Just one grate separates the Chiaramonti Museum to the south from the Museum of the Inscriptions, founded by Pius VII and containing more than 3,000 exhibits.

The western part of the Bramante Gallery is truly replete with museums, among which stand out: the Cabinet of Papyri, the Museum of Sacred Objects, the Museum of Secular Objects and the Numismatic Cabinet. On the second floor (Arazzi Gallery) there are precious carpets depicting the apostles based on paintings by Raphael.

Vatican palaces. Belvedere Palace

Two vestibules lead to the Pio-Clementine Museum, located in the Belvedere Palace. The round one offers a magnificent panorama of the Eternal City, and the quadrangular one is famous thanks to the torso of Hercules. The hall of Mileagra with the statue of the mythical hunter is located off the circular vestibule. From here you can also get into the octagonal courtyard, surrounded by a portico with 16 columns of granite. Under the portico itself, antique bas-reliefs, fonts, sarcophagi and altars found their place. And in the niches for many decades flaunt Apollo Belvedere, Perseus Canova, Laocoön with his sons and Mercury.

From the courtyard you can get to the gallery of statues with Sleeping Ariadne and Cupid Praxiteles, then - through the hall of the Beasts - to the hall of the Muses in the form of an octagon, supported by 16 marble columns. This is followed by the Round Hall with a dome supported by 10 marble columns and antique mosaics from Otricoli. Here you can also admire the pool of red porphyry, striking not only in beauty, but also in its size. To the south of the hall is the hall of the Greek Cross with the sarcophagi of Saints Constance and Helena made of red porphyry.

From here you can also go to the main museum staircase, created by Simonette, and from it - to the Egyptian, and then the Etruscan museums, founded by Pius VII and Gregory XVI, respectively. The staircase of the museum, in turn, leads to the Giardino della Pigna, named after the bronze fountain in the form of a cone, located in a niche on the front side of the building.

The grandiose complex of the Vatican Palaces today is considered the most significant architectural ensemble for mankind in the whole world, and the grandeur of the treasures collected here can plunge any connoisseur of beauty into a "sacred" awe for a long time.

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Apostolic Palace(Italian: Palazzo Apostolico, also called Vatican Palace or papal palace listen)) is the official residence of the Pope, located in the Vatican. Official name - Palace of Sixtus V(lat. Palatium Sixti V).

The building complex of the Apostolic Palace includes the Pontifical Apartments, government offices of the Roman Catholic Church, several chapels, the Vatican Museums, and the Vatican Library. The audience halls are located on the third floor of the palace, among them the Clementine Hall, the Consistory Hall, the Large and Small throne rooms, the papal library (the Pope's office and a room for private audiences). On the fourth floor are the premises of the papal secretariat. The palace has more than 1000 rooms that are world famous for the greatest works of art they contain: the Sistine Chapel and its famous ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo (restored in 1980-1990) and Raphael's Stanzas.

Plan of the northern part of the Apostolic Palace (Rodolfo Lanciani, 1893-1901).

There is no exact information about the beginning of the construction of the Vatican Palace: some attribute it to Constantine the Great, others attribute the original construction to the time of Pope Symmachus (VI century). It is only certain that during the arrival of Charlemagne to Rome for the coronation, the residence of Pope Leo III served as a palace on the Vatican Hill; but then the palace was neglected and the pope's residence was moved to the Lateran Palace. Only since the return of the popes from Avignon (1377) has the Vatican become a permanent papal residence and expanded with a number of grandiose outbuildings.

The Pope's own apartments and the audience hall are located around the courtyard of St. Damaz, from the side of the church of St. Peter.

The Arazzi Gallery on the second floor of the Bramante Western Gallery contains a precious collection of carpets made from Raphael's cardboards and depicting the deeds of the holy apostles.

The complex of buildings of the Apostolic Palace includes the Papal Apartments, government offices of the Roman Catholic Church, several chapels, the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Library. The palace has more than 1,000 rooms that are world-famous for containing the greatest works of art: and its famous ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo (restored in 1980-1990) and Raphael's Stanzas.

The Apostolic Palace was built under Pope Sixtus V. On the 3rd floor there are halls for audiences: among them are the Clementine Hall, the Consistory Hall, the Large and Small throne rooms, the papal library (the Pope's office and a room for private audiences). On the fourth floor are the premises of the papal secretariat.

The other papal residence is located in, and in the town of Castel Gandolfo there is a country summer residence.

Before the transfer of the capital of Italy to Rome in 1871, it was the official residence of the pope. After the final liquidation of the Papal States in 1870, the Quirinal Palace was confiscated and became the official residence of the king. After the liquidation of the monarchy in Italy in 1946, this palace became the residence of the president.

Apostolic Palace. Papal palace, vatican, italy World masterpieces in the palaces of the Vatican

Construction history

Southern (oldest) part of the palace

Belvedere Palace

Galleries Bramante and Braccio Nuovo

see also

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Notes

Links

An excerpt characterizing the Apostolic Palace

Vatican palaces. History pages

Description of the complex Vatican Palaces

Ancient part of the Apostolic Palace

Vatican palaces. galleries

Vatican palaces. Belvedere Palace

see also