*Space and Place - The Vatican Museums

Last time we did space and place, I know I discussed being corralled and guided through the forum. However, the Forum Romanum was nothing in comparison to the Vatican Museums.

I have no way of describing it better than what Dan said – both the best and worst museum in the world. There is no doubt the art there is wonderful, and there is much to see of it! Going through it all in a day is simply impossible, even when trying to breeze through it. Though the Vatican no doubt had a questionable fashion of collecting their pieces, it was great to see many of them, even if what we saw was just the tip of the iceberg.

The beginning was relatively enjoyable – we took our time, photographed statues, and felt in awe. We giggled at the fig leaves and loitered around busts. It was comfortable. But when the time came to see the chapel, it was farther away, and much more crowded.

We were herded like sheep through the contemporary section, through the Raphael rooms, and even many of the halls leading up to these places. Though I didn’t care much about the contemporary religious paintings, I was only able to nostalgically awe at The School of Athens for a few moments before trailing after the small group I was with, fearing losing my friends in the crowd.

The push and pull of tourists and the amounts of people were simply a turn off. Though I am not claustrophobic at all, it took me half a minute into the Sistine Chapel before I couldn’t wait to get out again. In front of me in line was a woman and a stroller, and I’m not very sure that was a good idea either. Countless idiots were taking photos with flash in all parts of the museum, and even in the chapel, and being there watching them kind of made me angry. There was really no way to stop them, but it’s a frustrating matter.

I suppose there is no real way to fix this problem. Thousands of people come to see the chapel and museums a day. If they were to limit the crowd even more, revenue would go down, and less people would get in to tour and marvel. Either way, there are wins and there are loses. It just seems a shame that masses of people should make the viewing of art such a distracting, annoying thing, when as an artist, I love going to see these things. My experience with the Vatican Museums was much better in March those years ago, when summer season had not yet kicked in, and the crowds were much less than today.

Despite the annoying visitors and all the pushing, I got many good photographs of many beautiful statues, for there will always be a place in my heart for classical style marbles. The ceilings continue to awe me, and I love the renaissance classics – I just wished that in a perfect world, I wouldn’t be pushed through the galleries.