The Vatican Museums (Musei Vaticani) are the public art and sculpture museums in the Vatican City, which display works from the extensive collection of the Roman Catholic Church. The museums were founded in the 16th century by Pope Julius II.

Works in the Vatican Museums

• several paintings by Caravaggio
• Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Saint Jerome
• works by painters Fra Angelico, Giotto, Nicolas Poussin, and Titian
• the sculpture Laocoon and his Sons by Agesander
• the red marble papal throne, formerly in the basilica of St. John Lateran
• Roman sculpture, tombstones, and inscriptions, including the epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus
• the Gallery of Maps : topographical maps of the whole of Italy, painted on the walls by friar Ignazio Danti of Perugia, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585). This gallery is situated at the west side of the Belvedere Courtyard. It is 120 m long. It took Danti 3 years (1580-1583) to complete the 40 panels. The decorations on the vaulted ceiling is the work of a group of Mannerist artists (such as Cesare Nebbia, Girolamo Muziano).

External links

• Vatican Museums' website http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html