You will enter the Vatican Museum from Viale del Vaticano and the various sectors of the Museum are reached by ascending the extraordinary Spiral Staircase. From here the Museums of Antiquities are situated to your left, the Picture Gallery (Pinacoteca) straight ahead, and Museo Pio Cristiano to your right.

History

The origin of the Vatican Museum dates back to the early 16th century as a collection of sculptures by Pope Julius II (1503-1513). He placed in what today is the Cortile Ottagono within the museum complex. The popes displayed their art collections to the public as a tool to promote knowledge of art history and culture. The Museums of Antiquities contain the richest collection of classical art in the work. The collection was mainly due to the effort put in by Popes Clement IV, Pius VI, Pius VII and Gregory XVI. They reorganized and expanded the collection of Roman antiquities that was amassed during the Renaissance.

Pope Gregory XVI founded the Georgian Egyptian Museum. It contains sarcophagi, mummies, grave goods, and other artifacts relating to the civilization of ancient Egypt. He also founded the Etruscan Museum, that contains archaeological finds of the 1828 excavations in southern Etruria, and the Lateran Profane Museum containing statues, bas-relief sculptures and mosaics of the Roman era. The Etruscan Museum consists of nine rooms in which are displayed sarcophagi, cinerary urns and jewellery made of terracotta and precious items. The Gallery of Tapestries displays ten wonderful tapestries based on cartoons by pupils of Raphael from the 15th to 17th century. The Gallery of the Geographical Maps is a corridor over 100 meters long where walls are adorned with painted maps of Italy and her regions. The Gallery of St. Pius V consists of two large rooms where specimens of medieval fabrics and tapestries are on display.

The Pio-Clementine Museum displays magnificent Roman statues. The collection includes the marble Apollo Belvedere (a copy of the 4th century BC original), the famous marble group of Laocoon (dating to the 1st century AD) and the Hermes (a copy of the original by Praxiteles).

The Chiaramonti Museum is a long gallery in which are displayed a large number of ancient sculptures. The Museum has two further sections – the Galleria Lapidaria and the Braccio Nuovo, comprising a striking Roman statue of a river-god representing the Nile.

The Sala della Biga (or the Hall of the Chariot) displays a Roman chariot from the 1st century BC. The room also contains the Discobolos, a statue of Dionysus by Myron. It also contains sarcophagi of children.

The Gallery of Candelabra consists of six sections in which are displayed a variety of ancient sculptures, copies of ancient candelabra, sarcophagi and fragments of ancient frescoes.

Under the pontificate of Saint Pius X the Hebrew Lapidary was established. Marquisate Pellegrini-Quarantotti donated this section of the museum that displays 137 inscriptions from ancient

The Vatican Historical Museum has on display a series of papal portraits along with historic ceremonial objects no longer in use. The Carriage and Automobile Museum is part of this Museum.

A new entrance was inaugurated in 2000. Extensive renovations were completed in 2000. A new three level structure was added. On the first level is the new entrance, the second leads visitors to the exhibition areas and the third level is reserved for special exhibitions and meetings.

Pope John Paul II, defining the new structure at the inauguration said “the entrance that introduces that temple of art and culture which are the Vatican Museums”, which “represent at a cultural level one of the most important doors of the Holy See open on the world. From this space comes not only the functional but the symbolic value of heightened “capacity”, that is, more comfort to express the renewed will of the Church to seek dialogue with humanity, in the sign of art and culture, in accessing the heritage which history entrusted her”.

A large 1st century AD mosaic is displayed at the new entrance. It was discovered in 1842 at a Roman villa on the outskirts of Rome. It was first used until as the floor in the Raphael Stanza of Heliodorus. After restoration in 1994 it was transferred to its current location