Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
It'sJudgmentDay,andChrist—thepowerfulfigureinthecenter,raisinghisarmtospank
the wicked—has come to find out who's naughty and who's nice. Beneath him, a band of
angels blows its trumpets Dizzy Gillespie-style, giving a wake-up call to the sleeping dead.
Thedeadatlowerleftleavetheirgravesandpreparetobejudged.Therighteous,onChrist's
right hand (the left side of the picture), are carried up to the glories of heaven. The wicked
on the other side are hurled down to hell, where demons wait to torture them. Charon, from
the underworld of Greek mythology, waits below to ferry the souls of the damned to hell.
When
The Last Judgment
was unveiled to the public in 1541, it caused a sensation. The
popeissaidtohavedroppedtohiskneesandcried,“Lord,chargemenotwithmysinswhen
thou shalt come on the Day of Judgment.”
And it changed the course of art. The complex composition, with more than 300 figures
swirling around the figure of Christ, went far beyond traditional Renaissance balance. The
twisted figures shown from every imaginable angle challenged other painters to try and top
this master of 3-D illusion. And the sheer terror and drama of the scene was a striking con-
trast to the placid optimism of, say, Raphael's
School of Athens
. Michelangelo had Baroque-
en all the rules of the Renaissance, signaling a new era of art.
Fora
shortcutdirectlytoSt.Peter'sBasilica
(see“MuseumStrategies,”earlier),you'll
exitatthefar-rightcorneroftheSistineChapel(withyourbacktothealtar).Thisroutesaves
youa30-minutewalkandthewaitintheSt.Peter'ssecurityline,butifyouexithere,you're
done with the museum—you can't get back to the main entrance/exit (where audioguides
need to be returned) or the
Pinacoteca
(the Vatican's small but fine collection of paintings,
withRaphael's
Transfiguration,
Leonardo'sunfinished
St.Jerome,
andCaravaggio's
Depos-
ition
).
If you skip the shortcut and take the long march back, you'll find, along with the Pin-
acoteca, a cafeteria (long lines, uninspired food), the underrated early-Christian art section,
and the exit via the souvenir shop.
▲
Castel Sant'Angelo
Built as a tomb for the emperor, used through the Middle Ages as a castle, prison, and place
of last refuge for popes under attack, and today a museum, this giant pile of ancient bricks is
packed with history.
Cost and Hours:
€8.50, Tue-Sun 9:00-19:30, closed Mon, last entry one hour before
closing, near Vatican City, Metro: Lepanto or bus #40 or #64, tel. 06-681-9111,
Background:
Ancient Rome allowed no tombs—not even the emperor's—within its
walls. So Emperor Hadrian grabbed the most commanding position just outside the walls
