Visit to the Vatican

Visiting the Vatican requires purchasing tickets in advance and each visitor is given a time of entry.  Ours was 11 am.  You can imagine our surprise when we overslept and woke up at 10 am!  We had to jump out of bed, wash our faces, and dash off to catch the bus across town.  Fortunately, we arrived just in time to join in the queue to enter the same doors thousands of pilgrims have entered before.

I couldn't help but to think of all the visitors, from all the different countries, from every walk of life who passed through the entryway over the years.   But I was especially happy to see all the Catholics for whom this might have been the pilgrimage of a lifetime.

The size and scope and grandeur of the Vatican is hard to convey in words.  This is a piece of stained glass window that is brightly lit from behind.

The sheer quantity of statues put me into statue overload pretty quickly.  So much better to be able to enjoy one piece at a time.  In many ways, this is the pleasure of creating this blog to revisit these amazing pieces and take the time to enjoy them.

Ceilings are especially beautiful. 

And this ceiling in the hall of maps was my favorite.  For some reason that I can't explain the art of the ancient map making appealed to me the most.  

Upon returning from our trip, I've ordered a book on calligraphy and have been inspired to learn the art of beautiful writing.  

Here's a close up of the writing.

I long for the days when an ordinary task like writing was elevated to an extraordinary work of art.  

  

The gardens and grounds of the Vatican were worthy of a trip all by themselves.

This garden sculpture was especially touching. 

We were able to take many lovely photos from the Vatican windows.  Rome is such a beautiful city.  

What exquisite views!

An unexpected aspect to the Vatican was its wing of modern art.  Love this Marc Chagall in red chalk.

This painting was a favorite of mine.  

Also the simple devotional nature of the Henri Matisse drawings touched my heart like no others.    For all the opulence of the art in the Vatican, isn't it interesting that the pure delicacy of the Matisse drawings are a favorite of so many?   Surprisingly they are huge, quite possibility 30 feet by 10 feet.