Vatican Museum Full Guide

Marvel at the gems of the Vatican Museum with fantastic audio, quality images, interactive maps, and a choice of self guided tours.

Established in 1506, the Vatican is not only the oldest continuously running museum in the world, but it is also a continuously expanding one and in its 500-year life, it has ballooned from a single building called the Belvedere Palace to the present juggernaut-sized complex it is today. The museum is as awesome as overcrowded and extremely complicated, so here are a few tips to get you started. Firstly book your tickets in advance. Secondly, the Sistine Chapel is less crowded if booked for the first slotnokbook the first slot of the day to get ahead of the crowds and steal some private time. Finally, prepare to navigate through overcrowded, cramped and claustrophobic places. The museum is not scaled to cope with such an influx of tourists. Sadly, that is pretty much the story everywhere in the museum but you will feel it the most inside the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. But don't let the size or complexity of the +museum dampen your holiday spirit. Trust us to take you around the vast museum in three simple steps which is child's play - download the app, choose your tour and keep pressing Next!

Your first stop is left of the grand escalator and it is the museum’s Egyptian collection. . On to the next part of your visit let's make way to the more spectacular section of the Pio Clementino Museum. Formerly known as the Belvedere Palace these are path-breaking beginnings of the world's first museum when in 1506 the statue of Laocoön went on display. The most outstanding pieces are found in the Octagonal Courtyard where except for Perseus by Canova, the rest are high-quality copies of Greek originals that confidently command the space as well as our undivided attention. The Chiaramonti Museum along with its new wing, which comes next, is home to a mind-blowing collection of Roman sculptures that share with their Greek counterparts the same quality of absolute command of all dimensions! The most remarkable of this is the truly magnificent work of Augustus of Prima Porta - which set the gold standard for Imperial portraiture for years to come.

We are still in the bowels of the Vatican Museum, and to travel to the head, we have to traverse the spinal cord - a long corridor of spectacular tapestries and frescoed maps of Italian regions. Don't be surprised if you find the maps the wrong way around as the cartographer was merely following visual perspective rather than modern convention! Starting from the room of Immaculate Conception, we move onto the Raphael rooms that house blockbuster works such as The School of Athens. This visual extravaganza finds a fitting finale in the spectacular frescoes of the museum beginning with the Raphael rooms. Despite having never painted frescoes before he put his determination on the scaffolding and completed it in 4 years. This is the last stop in the east wing and the tour now continues in the west wing of the museum with a briefDespite having never painted frescoes before he put his determination on the scaffolding and completed it in 4 years. This is the last stop in the east wing and the tour now continues in the west wing of the museum with a brief tour of the Pinacoteca which holds a small but important collection. The most incredible works here are Raphael’s Transfiguration, Caravaggio’s Deposition and da Vinci's St Jerome. A small museum related to original Greek antiquities, such as Marsyas and Athena and finally masterpieces of Christian art and we are almost finished. There are optional visits to the carriages gallery and the Oriental and African arts, and the Vatican City’s only post office! Your last stop is right at the exit - the spectacular spiral staircase copied after an original by Bramantino will lead you into the streets. If you have managed to follow all our tour stops, now you have the rest of the day at your disposal to see other Roman attractions. We do part ways here but remember that the app is yours to keep and gives unlimited virtual visits for a lifetime!