Sistine Chapel

A wonderful moving experience.

I WILL get to see the Sistine Chapel! ONE DAY. ONE DAY. Lol.

This stop landed smack in the middle of our two week Italy trip. It touched me in such a personal way I came back home, drew an abstract based on the ceiling, and had it tattooed on my left arm. It reminds me of love and beauty and life and adventure…

I wanted SO BAD to take a picture, but they warn you not to because they can and will take away your camera. Even with the Sistine Chapel crowded, everyone was very quiet and courteous. Our guide(I love tour guides because you always get the back story and history) told us that the Chapel was meant to be seen through the door that the pope entered through, which is on the opposite side from which you enter, if I remember correctly. There are these huge doors and if you stand there and look up it’s absolutely amazing. I stood there for a long time and just stared.

i had been traveling through europe w/a friend of mine for a month or so and i drug him to so many museums and when we went in there my breath was taken away but he actually started crying- i was so glad to finally see my friend moved by art- what an amazing place!

Get there early and go straight through the museum to the chapel.

wish i’d seen the ceiling before it was restored..

If you go first thing in the morning you’ll wait about 20 minutes and roam freely through. Cover your feet (don’t wear sandals), knees, and shoulders or you will have to buy a wrap. No pictures and no talking aloud in the sistine chapel- they will yell at you. Read The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone before you go if you have a chance.

amazing. i wanted to lay on the ground and just stare at it forever

My first visit to the Sistine Chapel was not the most pleasant. As I gazed ceilingward, a person standing next to me got sick to their stomach and promptly vomitted. I wondered if she got dizzy looking up so much!

Fortunately, that is a rare event, and since I lived in Rome 2 years, I was able to see the Chapel numerous times as I took friends and visitors around town for a tour.

I did this in the 1980’s so I haven’t seen the Chapel since it was cleaned. I would like to see that now, and to see how different it is in colors, mood, impact.

There is some terrific artwork in the Vatican Museums around the Chapel. Worth seeing, too.

Pat T