About Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel
It all started with a statue: the Laocoön, unearthed in 1506 and taken to the Vatican by Pope Julius II. Today there are about 70,000 works, 20,000 of them on display, and nearly 7 million visitors a year. The Raphael Rooms hold The School of Athens, painted between 1509 and 1511.
The Sistine Chapel is the last room on the route. Michelangelo painted the ceiling between 1508 and 1512, with more than 300 figures, and came back about 25 years later for the Last Judgment, on the altar wall. Save your energy: arriving there after hours of galleries is part of the package, and your neck will complain.
