The Sistine Chapel

I am going to say it right off the bat.  The Sistine Chapel is amazing, and for all the reasons it is said to be.  

It's the place where new popes are elected.  It's the personal chapel of the pope.

But it is perhaps more famous as the location of both Michelangelo's ceiling and, at one end, the Last Judgment.  Remember, Michelangelo believed he was a sculptor, and not a painter, so at first he turned down the job.  Pope Julius II stayed after Michelangelo and finally convinced him to do it.  

Julius had only asked for the 12 apostles along the sides of the ceiling, but Michelangelo had a better idea.  Across the ceiling he painted biblical scenes.

The most famous is the Creation of Adam, as God reaches out to bring Adam to life with the power in his finger.  The picture dominates the middle of the ceiling, although it is no larger than any other scene.  God, and his entourage (I believe none were named "Turtle") are enveloped in what is shaped like the human brain.

Other paintings on the ceiling (vault) include the Separation of Light from Darkness, the Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Planets, the Separation of the Waters, the Creation of Eve, Original Sin and Explusion from Paradise, Noah's Sacrifice, The Flood, and the Drunkenness of Noah.

On the curved down part of the ceiling, there are prophets, sybils, and ancestors of Jesus.

No one is allowed to take photos, or whisper, or linger too long.  Frankly, having been through a similar experience back in the spring with the amazing Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, frescoe'd by Giotto (his style was a precursor to the Renaissance), the Scrovegni experience was more satisfying.

Now, I have seen the Sistine Chapel twice before, and I am certainly NOT knocking it.  It's amazing.  But if you are going to northern Italy (Milan and or Venice), detour out of your way to go see the Scrovegni Chapel.  (Get tickets well in advance, not everyone can be as lucky as we were.)

   

I decided to put the "no pictures" dictum to the test. . .I hid behind another tourist, put my iPhone in selfie mode, and took these two pictures, hoping for the best:

Okay, so while I didn't get the

best, I got something, and I

didn't get caught.

You'll note I didn't get the Last Judgment, which Michelangelo started work on more than two decades after he finished the ceiling.  I didn't get any pictures of that 

I didn't take this, and I'm

supposed to attribute it, so

I will: Created by Michelangelo.