Sistine Chapel

DOUG To get to the Sistine Chapel, we sure had to walk!  After walking from our apartment to St. Peter’s in the hot sun, waiting in line, and walking through the giant church, we had already put some miles on our feet.  To get to the Sistine, we had to walk along the huge wall of the Vatican part of the way around Vatican City to get to the entrance, then up several flights of stairs to a beautiful outdoor sculpture garden, with a huge globe sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro in the middle.  Then began the labyrinth.  The path to the Sistine wanders through the entire Vatican Museum, through Egyptian mummies, Greek statues, long (long!) halls of wall-to-wall tapestries, another long hall of wall-to-wall frescos of maps of all the regions of Italy (gorgeous!), through the Raphael wing with a few dozen wall-sized frescos, including the incredible School of Athens occupying a place of no particular importance, through more rooms of contemporary art (are you kidding me? where is the Sistine?) through more halls with giant paintings on the ceilings (is this the Sistine? Not yet!) and finally into the Sistine itself, every inch packed with people, their voices modulating to the rhythms of the guards shouting “Shh!” every five minutes.

Was it worth it to see perhaps the greatest work of art ever created?  Oh my, yes.  Before our trip we had all watched The Agony and the Ecstasy, so we all felt not only the sheer effort it took, the backbreaking labor, but also the conceptual leap into the artistic future, with cardinals shouting “Obscene!” when they first saw the nude forms, Charlton Heston as Michelangelo saying “I paint them as God made them!” and Rex Harrison as the pope saying, upon seeing the great image of God creating Adam with a touch, “Is that really how you see God?” as a loving Creator, and “Is that how you see Man?” as an innocent being.

The ceiling tells the entire story of the Old Testament, with special huge panels for the creation of sun and moon, creation of Man, expulsion from the Garden, and the Flood.  The painting includes pedestals and pillars, so it is difficult to tell what is actual structure and what is merely paint.

Thankfully, we found a place to sit on the stone bench that circles the chapel.  A welcome moment of relaxation.  Three of us took cat naps (this was our first day in Rome, nine time zones away), awaking periodically to gaze at the monument overhead, while Erica pored through the book learning what every picture meant.  It was nice to not feel rushed and take as long as we wanted.  Erica made sure the last glimpse she had as we exited was God’s hand touching Adam’s.  It’s nice when something lives up to all your expectations.