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Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel: the long way to Michelangelo

The Vatican Museums are the collections of the popes, shown in the palaces where they were gathered. The Sistine Chapel is the last room on the route, and the reason for the queue.

A painted and gilded panel of the ceiling of the Gallery of Maps in the Vatican Museums.
Jebulon, CC0
What it is
Museum
Time to allow
3 to 4 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
First entry of the morning, or after lunch

Rome this week

    Why the Vatican Museums is worth it

    The museums began with one statue. The Laocoön was dug out of a Roman vineyard on 14 January 1506, Pope Julius II bought it at once, and the popes went on collecting for five centuries. Today the museums hold some 70,000 works and show about 20,000 of them. In 2024 they had 6.8 million visitors, more than any art museum in the world except the Louvre.

    The Sistine Chapel was built for Pope Sixtus IV between 1473 and 1481, and its side walls were painted by Botticelli, Perugino and Ghirlandaio. Then Julius II asked Michelangelo for the ceiling. He painted it between 1508 and 1512, and came back to paint the Last Judgment on the altar wall between 1535 and 1541. It is still the room where the cardinals elect a pope.

    On the way there you pass the four rooms Raphael painted for the same Julius II, the School of Athens among them, and a gallery 120 metres long whose walls are painted with maps of all Italy. Any one of them would be the chief sight of another city.

    What to see

    1. The Sistine Chapel

      Nine scenes from Genesis run down the middle of the ceiling, the Creation of Adam among them. Start at the far end from the altar and read them in order. The Last Judgment fills the wall behind the altar.

    2. The Raphael Rooms

      The School of Athens, painted between 1509 and 1511, puts Plato and Aristotle under a vault that looks like the new St Peter's. Raphael was working here while Michelangelo was on his scaffold a few doors away.

    3. The Gallery of Maps

      Forty maps of the regions of Italy, painted on the walls in the 1580s under a gilded ceiling. It is on the way to the chapel and no one regrets walking it slowly.

    4. The Laocoön and the Belvedere court

      The statue the museums began with, a Trojan priest and his sons caught by sea serpents, stands in the open courtyard with the Apollo Belvedere.

    How to do it well

    • Book a ticket for a set time. Without one, the queue along the Vatican walls can last two hours.
    • The entrance is on Viale Vaticano, on the north side of the walls, a fifteen-minute walk from St Peter's Square. Do not go to the square first.
    • Shoulders and knees must be covered, for men and women. It is enforced at the door.
    • The chapel is at the end of the route. Go straight there when the doors open if you want it almost empty, then walk back to the rest.
    • No photographs in the Sistine Chapel, and you are asked to keep silent. Look at the ceiling in the guidebook before you go in, so you know what to find.

    Where it is

    Address

    Viale Vaticano, on the north side of Vatican City

    Nearest station

    Ottaviano or Cipro, on line A

    Museums and sights nearby

    Distances are in a straight line.

    Tickets and tours: Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel

    Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel: common questions

    Is the Sistine Chapel inside the Vatican Museums?
    Yes. It is the last room on the visitor route through the museums and has no ticket of its own: a ticket to the Vatican Museums is a ticket to the Sistine Chapel.
    What is the dress code for the Vatican Museums?
    Shoulders and knees covered, for everyone. Sleeveless tops, short skirts and shorts above the knee are refused at the entrance.
    Can you take photos in the Sistine Chapel?
    No. Photography and filming are forbidden in the chapel, and the guards enforce it. Photographs without flash are allowed in the rest of the museums.
    How much time do you need for the Vatican Museums?
    Allow 3 to 4 hours. That is this site's estimate for an unhurried visit.

    What visitors say about the Vatican Museums

    Rating from Google

    4.6

    211,319 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 6 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

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