ITALY - Best of Europe 2014 - page 973

for the 18:00 Mass in English, near Via Firenze hotels, at Via XX Settembre 15,
Metro: Repubblica, tel. [phone]—charming Rosanna speaks English, details at
www.santasusanna.org ) .
Probably less convenient—unless you're already at the basilica—is getting a tick-
et at St. Peter's Square from the Vatican guard at their station at the bronze doors
(open Tue 12:00-19:30; last-minute tickets may be available Wed morning—just join
theline).It'sunderthe“elbow”ofBernini'scolonnade,ontherightsideofthesquare
as you face the basilica (see map on here ) .
While many visitors come hoping for a more intimate audience, private audiences
ended with the death of Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict doesn't do them.
Next is the brilliantly restored Sistine Chapel. This is the pope's personal chapel and
also the place where, upon the death (or resignation) of the ruling pope, a new pope is elec-
ted.
The Sistine Chapel is famous for Michelangelo's pictorial culmination of the Renais-
sance, showing the story of creation, with a powerful God weaving in and out of each
scene through that busy first week. This is an optimistic and positive expression of the High
Renaissanceandastirringexampleoftheartisticandtheologicalmaturityofthe33-year-old
Michelangelo, who spent four years on this work.
TheceilingshowsthehistoryoftheworldbeforethebirthofJesus.WeseeGodcreating
the world, creating man and woman, destroying the earth by flood, and so on. God himself,
in his purple robe, actually appears in the first five scenes. Along the sides (where the ceil-
ing starts to curve), we see the Old Testament prophets and pagan Greek prophetesses who
foretold the coming of Christ. Dividing these scenes and figures are fake niches (a painted
3-D illusion) decorated with nude statue-like figures with symbolic meaning.
When the ceiling was finished and revealed to the public, it simply blew 'em away—it
wasunlikeanythingseenbefore.ItbothcapstheRenaissanceandturnsitinanewdirection.
In perfect Renaissance spirit, it mixes Old Testament prophets with classical figures. But the
styleismoredramatic,shocking,andemotionalthanthebalancedRenaissanceworksbefore
it. This is a very personal work—the Gospel according to Michelangelo—but its themes and
subject matter are universal. Many art scholars contend that the Sistine ceiling is the single
greatest work of art by any one human being.
Later, after the Reformation wars had begun and after the Catholic army of Spain had
sacked the Vatican, the reeling Church began to fight back. As part of its Counter-Reforma-
tion, a much older Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the Last Judgment (behind the
altar).