Taking a trip to Rome? Here’s how to visit the Vatican Museums, a must for any vacation in the Italian capital!
The world’s smallest and least populated state, the Vatican is a sovereign enclave located in the city of Rome, home to a population of 921 over a total area of 0.439 km². A visit to the Vatican City State – also religiously known as the Holy See of the Catholic Church – is a journey through time. Among all the Vatican’s religious monuments and buildings – Raphael’s Rooms, St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Dome and the Sistine Chapel – is a colossal museum complex that’s a must-see if you’re ever there: the Vatican Museums. In 2013, 6.6 million people visited the Vatican and its museums, multiplying the population by 6,600!
The Vatican Museums house enormous collections of works of art accumulated over the centuries by the Popes. The desire to create museums in the Vatican dates back to the 16th century, when Pope Julius II had ancient statues – such as the Apollo of Belvedere and the Laocoon – moved to the Belvedere Gardens. From then on, Vatican City became a cultural Mecca for the admiration of Roman antiquities. Here are our tips for visiting the Vatican Museums.
A brief history of the Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums comprise a total of 12 museums, 5 galleries and 1,400 exhibition rooms. It is one of the world’s largest art collections. Built up over the centuries by the Popes, it bears unique witness to artistic, religious and cultural developments from Antiquity to the present day. The Vatican Museums were originally created to house classical archaeology collections, as the Popes often considered themselves the legitimate heirs to the history of Rome.
It was in the Octagon courtyard – formerly the Statuary Courtyard – that Pope Julius II decided in 1506 to install an extraordinary collection of ancient sculptures, including the Apollo of Belvedere and the Laocoon, freshly excavated from Mount Esquilino at the time. Inaugurated in 1771, the Vatican’s first museum was the Museo Pio-Clementino. By this time, in the second half of the 18th century, the pontificate’s collections had grown considerably, and the purpose of the museums had shifted from accumulation to the protection of historic works of art.
A visit to the Vatican Museums is a must for lovers of art and history! The Popes have often been the world’s greatest patrons and collectors of art, and their centuries-old tradition of accumulating the world’s finest tourist creations ultimately benefits us all.
Presentation of the Vatican Museums
The twelve Vatican Museums are
- The Vatican Pinacoteca,
- The Modern Religious Art Collection,
- The Pio-Clementino Museum,
- The ethnological missionary museum,
- The Egyptian Gregorian Museum,
- The Etruscan Gregorian Museum,
- The secular Gregorian museum,
- The Christian Museum,
- The Vatican Apostolic Bible Museum,
- The carriage museum,
- Chiaramonti Museum,
- The Philatelic and Numismatic Museum.
Whether you’re a group or an individual, self-guided or with an English-speaking tour guide, there are many ways to visit the Vatican Museums. If you’re visiting the Vatican as a whole, there’s a complete guided tour that includes the Vatican Museums, St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Find out more about this guided tour of the Vatican.
What to see in the Vatican Museums
When you visit the Vatican Museums, you’ll discover major works of art, some of which date back to pre-Roman antiquity. Here’s a brief overview of the most important museums. In the Chiaramonti Museum, you’ll find around a thousand statues from the time of the Roman Empire, as well as originals from ancient Greece. At the far end of the gallery is the Braccio Nuovo. In the Museo Pio-Clementino, dedicated to Greco-Roman statues, you’ll find the famous Apollo del Belvedere and the Laocoon group, classified as the Vatican’s most important works. The Gallery of Maps, created in the 16th century, is one of the earliest representations of the regions and cities of Italy.
Don’t miss Raphael’s four Rooms (Constantine’s Room, Heliodorus’ Room, Room of the Signature (segnatura), Room of the Borgo Fire). The Pinacoteca houses masterpieces of pictorial art: paintings by Giotto, Fra Angelico, Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, L. da Vinci, N. Poussin and others. The Egyptian Museum exhibits Egyptian antiquities found during archaeological excavations in Rome: the Romans admired ancient Egyptian art, and many works were brought back to Rome or imitated and plagiarized there. Finally, at the Etruscan Museum, take the time to admire the objects and archaeological pieces found in Etruscan necropolises: funerary objects and ostentatious signs of wealth.
Visiting the Vatican Museums: practical information
Access to the museums is via Viale Vaticano, north of the Vatican and St. Peter’s Square. Please respect the visiting hours:
- Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 6 pm,
- December 24 and 31, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m,
- Open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month (free admission).
- Closed on Sundays,
- Closed January 1 and 6, February 11, March 19, Easter Sunday and Monday, May 1, June 29, August 14, August 15, December 8, December 25 and 26.
Here are the prices, including access to the Sistine Chapel!
- Self-guided tour (full price): €17,
- Self-guided tour (reduced rate): €8,
- Guided tour (full price): €33,
- Guided tour (reduced rate): €24,
- Evening visit (free): €21 (Fridays, April to October, 7pm to 11pm).
Tickets are available on the official Vatican website. If there’s no more availability, or if you’re having trouble navigating the site, we recommend you try here. If you’re coming to visit the Vatican as a whole, there’s a complete guided tour that includes the Vatican Museums, St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Find out more about this guided tour of the Vatican.
If you want to learn about the context in which the works were created, we recommend you take a guided tour! That way, you won’t have to scroll through the exhibition halls to see the works without understanding the socio-historical context in which they were created.