The Room of Animals

The room has a copy of the Meleager by Skopas, and the group of Mithras, the Persian god sacrificing the bull to the Sun.

Torso Belvedere

The III century BC Torso bears the signature of a Greek sculptor from Athens, Apollonios, son of Nestor; it is probably part of a fighting figure of Hercules. It was discovered in the ruins of the Baths of Caracella. Michelangelo was most impressed by its powerful and perfect anatomy and refused to restore it, as he had been requested to do by the Pope.

The Raphael Stanzas

Pope Julius II Della Rovere commissioned 25 year old Raphael Sanzio in 1508 to paint the frescos in his four room apartment on the top floor. Three of the rooms were of modest dimensions, while the fourth one was considerably larger; with the completion of the work, the rooms became known as "The Raphael Stanze" . They comprise the Stanza della Segnatura, the Stanza of Heliodorus, the Stanza of the Borgo Fire and the Sala of Constantine. The Raphael Loggia consist of 13 arches forming a gallery 65 meters long and 4 meters wide. The construction was started by Bramante in 1512, under Pope Julius II and was completed by Raphael Sanzio under the reign of Leo X. The pictorial work was initiated in 1517. The 52 scenes on the ceilings of the loggia are still popularly referred as "The Raphael Bible".

The School of Athens

Raphael portrays the Philosophers of Athens. Many of the Philosophers were made to look like contemporaries of Raphael.

At the center are Plato (looking like Leonardo), pointing up and Aristotle, pointing down.
At the center, lying down, is Diogenes.
The bald guy to the right of the painting is Euclid, looking like Bramante, bending down with a compass and explaining geometry to students on a board.
Foremost, with elbow on a table, is Heraclitus, looking like Michelangelo.
Next to Heraclitus is Parmenides, looking at Pythagoras.
Just behind Parmenides is Hypatia of Alexandria, with the likeness of Francesco Maria della Rovere.
To the right of Heraclitus (left in the image) is Pythagoras - explaining to a small girl with a book in his hand.
Holding chart of harmonies for Pythagoras is Anaxagoras.
Standing behind Parmenides, in greenish robes, is Socrates.
Facing Socrates is Alexander III of Macedon.
To the right of Alexander (left in the image) are Alcibiades facing Xenophon, and, just behind Alcibiades, is Ęschines.
At the far left of the photograph is Epicurus.
At the far left of the painting facing Epicurus is Zeno, unfortunately cut off in my photograph.
The group at the right consist Ptolemy (extreme right, back view) holding earth sphere facing Zoroaster, holding celestial sphere.
To the right of Ptolemy and Zoroaster are Raphael (himself) and Sodoma.

Standing in alcoves on either side of the arch, the classical deities Apollo and Minerva represent the supremacy of reason and the spirit over passion and the desires of the senses. Apollo can be recognized by his traditional symbol, the lyre. In the Parnassus Raphael has him playing a contemporary instrument, the lira da braccio.

The Fire in the Borgo

The Fire in the Borgo is the most complex of the four episodes in the Stanza dell'Incendio di Borgo. It is full of references to classical antiquity, to medieval architecture at the time of the affirmation of the Church, and to themes used by contemporary artists. It celebrates the intercession of Leo IV, by whose grace a fire which spread through the Borgo, a popular section of Rome near the Basilica of St Peter, was extinguished. The event depicted happened in AD 847 and is documented in the "Liber Pontificalis" (a collection of early papal biographies). Allegedly, Pope Leo IV managed miraculously to halt the raging fire, which was threatening an area of the city, by his benediction from the loggia of Old St Peter's.
The structure of the composition is complex: two colonnades of clear classical derivation define a square. The Pope, who again bears the features of Leo X, blesses the frightened crowd from a gallery located beyond the colonnades. The facade of old St Peter's appears behind him, in the background. While those in the foreground are desperately trying to put out the fire, the female figure in yellow with her back to us is begging them to look at the only effective source of help, the pope.
The term `scenographic' can appropriately be applied to this painting. Clearly, Raphael was concentrating on richer, more varied, but less harmonious compositional solutions than those of his previous paintings. The figure groups express great formal beauty, but they lack harmonious relationships and remain pure examples of episodical representation. The group in the left foreground, for example (made up of an old man on the shoulders of a young man, and a child), may be drawn from the episode of the Aeneid in which Aeneas escapes with his father, Anchises and his son, Ascanius. The woman with children in the centre of the fresco and the water carrier at right, whose clothes blow in the wind, represent similar stereotypes. The nude descending from the wall at left recalls the heroic figures of Michelangelo. Notwithstanding these limitations, the scene is highly effective and demonstrates Raphael's skill as an illustrator, although, as the critics maintain, it was executed largely by his pupils.

St. Peter's Basilica

Pope Sylvester I, in the year 326 A.D., inaugurated the basilica, built by Emperor Constantine over the grave of St. Peter. The Apostle was martyred in the Circus of Nero in 64 or 67 A.D., and this Circus has always been located where the church stands, until recent excavations proved that St. Peter's foundations were laid on virgin soil. The excavations also proved that the main altar of the church stands right over St. Peter's grave.
The present church was started in 1506 by Pope Julius II, and during the 120 years of reconstruction, almost all the major architects of Renaissance contributed in its design (read Irving Stone's Agony and Ecstasy).
Bramante was the first, and he also started the ruthless destruction of the old Church, bitterly opposed by Michelangelo. He planned the new one in form of a Greek cross. Both Bramante and Julius II died in a few years, and owing to the political and economic turmoils of the papacy, the gigantic undertaking didn't make much progress until the 71 year old Michelangelo, in 1546, was named architect-in-chief by Pope Paul III. The Dome of St. Peter's (or "er Cupolone", as it is affectionately called by the Romans) is an architectural master piece of Michelangelo's.
Carlo Madeno added the nave and the facade, and at Pope Paul V's command, changed the church in form of a Latin cross. The new basilica was consecrated on November 18, 1626. The entrance to the church is through the great central portal, under the Loggia of Benediction, from which the newly elected Pope bestows his blessings. The main portico has five massive bronze doors in to the church. The central one was made for the old St. Peter's in 1445 by Filarete from Florence (it bears a close resemblance with Ghiberti's ``paradise door'' in Florence made around the same time). At the extreme right is the Holy door which is opened once every 25 years for the Jubilee year.
The church houses several master pieces, including Michelangelo's Pieta, Transfiguration by Raphael, the mosaic of the Immaculate conception, Bernini's canopy and the altar of confession, a bronze of St. Peter by the 13th century Florentine sculptor Arnolfo Di Cambio and Bernini's Cattedra (the Bishop's chair) and the Glory of the Holy Spirit. There is also Bernini's famous monument of Pope Urban VIII.
Under the church is the tomb of St. Peter's.

St. Peter's Square

The St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) is the architectural master piece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. 284 Tuscan columns arranged in a quadruple row and 89 pillars form he two huge semicircles enclosing it. The entablature is crowned by 140 statutes of saints and the large coats of arms of Pope Alexander VII Chigi, who commissioned the work.
The Piazza was built in a short time between 1655 and 1677, mainly because the architectural project was overseen by Bernini himself. The oldest monument in the square is the monolithic Egyptian obelisk which stands in the center (not in either of the two photographs). Caligula has brought it to Rome to decorate his Circus and St. Peter was probably crucified near it with his head down.
In 1586, under Sixtus V, the obelisk was re-erected on its present site, and the emblem of the Chigi Pope Alexander VII was placed upon it later. The two beautiful fountains were built at different times; the one on the right by Maderno, and the other by Bernini.
Standing at the center one gets the impression that the square is encircled by a single row of columns instead of a quadruple one.

Michelangelo's Pieta

Pieta (Pity), 1499, Marble, height 174 cm, width at the base 195 cm, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican.

In the Pietą, Michelangelo approached a subject which until then had been given form mostly north of the Alps, where the portrayal of pain had always been connected with the idea of redemption: it was called the "Vesperbild" and represented the seated Madonna holding Christ's body in her arms. But now the twenty-three year-old artist presents us with an image of the Madonna with Christ's body never attempted before. Her face is youthful, yet beyond time; her head leans only slightly over the lifeless body of her son lying in her lap. "The body of the dead Christ exhibits the very perfection of research in every muscle, vein, and nerve. No corpse could more completely resemble the dead than does this. There is a most exquisite expression in the countenance. The veins and pulses, moreover, are indicated with so much exactitude, that one cannot but marvel how the hand of the artist should in a short time have produced such a divine work."
One must take these words of Vasari about the "divine beauty" of the work in the most literal sense, in order to understand the meaning of this composition. Michelangelo convinces both himself and us of the divine quality and the significance of these figures by means of earthly beauty, perfect by human standards and therefore divine. We are here face to face not only with pain as a condition of redemption, but rather with absolute beauty as one of its consequences.

Bernini's Baldacchino

The bronze canopy by Bernini has the height of a five storey building and is directly under Michelangelo's dome. The bronze was scavenged from the Pantheon which the Pope sanctioned.

The Roman Forum

Right at front is the Arch of Septimius Severus which hides the Curia. The Arch was dedicated in 203 by Caracalla and Geta, his sons, and, after Caracella killed Geta, he erased his brother's name from the inscription. The present one dates from 305 A.D., and was rebuilt under Diocletian.

In the open space between the arch and the Curia is the Comitium, which dates from the time of Romulus. Just to the right of the Arch of Septimius Severus is the Rostra, from which orators used to make their speeches. It is the Rostra from which Mark Anthony delivered his famous oration. In this space the is also the Lapis Niger, where supposedly is the tomb of Romulus, the founder of Rome.

Further to the right (just cut off in the photograph) is the Temple of Saturn. The west end of the Forum, at the base of the Capitoline Hill was associated with the god Saturn from the earliest times of Roman History. Legend has it that an altar was built at the foot of the Capitoline Hill for Saturn and that a temple was erected on the same site. In early times, the grateful inhabitants brought their wealth, grain, wool, and oil, to offer the first fruits to the god who had blessed them, and to have him guard the remainder of their treasure. Later, therefore, when they counted their wealth in gold and silver bars, or in coins, Saturn still guarded the state treasure in his temple. The cult statue of the god was obviously wooden: not only was it filled with oil, but also bound with wool.

The arch hides the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina to the left, the Templum Divi Iuli (which sits on the site of the funeral pyre of Julius Caesar. Augustus had the structure built after the battle of Actium.) at the center, and the Temple of Vesta just to its right. Just to the right of the Temple of Vesta are the three prominent remaining towers of Temple of Castor and Pollux.

Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

When the wife of emperor Antoninus Pius died in A.D. 141, he had this temple constructed in her honor, and twenty years later at his own death, the temple was rededicated to them both. Since the temple was turned into a church in the Middle Ages, much of it is very well preserved, but by the time the church was built, the ground level of the forum had been raised considerably. Now that the forum has been excavated down to the level of the Roman Empire, the Church door in the front of the temple is suspended half way up the wall. The front steps of the temple were "borrowed" for another church in Rome. Only this and the Temple of Saturn have the original porch intact, but the left side here is also standing. One can see the blocks of tufa that make up the foundation and wall. If you look closely, though, you see the large pits where people in metal-starved Medieval times chipped into this wall to dig out the little iron pins that Roman builders used to lock the blocks more securely. (When Rome fell, a lot of its technology went with it!)

Temple of Vesta

The round temple of Vesta, at the eastern end of the Forum, like the Regia, was said to have been built by the king Numa, who legend proclaims established the sisterhood known as the Vestal Virgins. This temple was the most sacred building in Rome, containing as it did, the sacred fire (the "hearth fire" of the city) and the Palladium, a wooden statue of Pallas Athena, which is said to have been brought from Troy to Italy by Aeneas. Suetonius and Tacitus tell us that the Vestals guarded public treaties, imperial wills, and other state documents. This shrine continued to be the city altar, and the fire was kept burning until after Christianity had become the religion of the Empire. The emperor Theodosius about 395 A.D. ordered the temple closed and the Vestals banished from the Atrium. Tradition says that with sorrowful hears the priestesses watched the flames flicker and die, then destroyed the inmost shrine; but no one knows what became of the sacred emblems which they guarded.

Temple of Castor and Pollux

In the Forum, near the Temple of Vesta, stands what is left of the temple erected in honor of Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Jupiter. It is one of the oldest in the Forum, dedicated in 484 B.C. Legend has it that during the the battle of Lake Regillus two youths on horseback, far excelling mortals in beauty of form and features, appeared to Postumius, the Roman leader, and to those about him, and charged at the head of the Roman cavalry. They wounded all they met with their spears, and drove the Latins before them, putting them to flight, taking their camp, and ending the battle. A little later, according to legend, two youths appeared in the same manner in the Roman Forum at sunset. They were attired in military uniform, were very tall and beautiful and of the same age, and looked as if they had just come from battle. Even their horses were tired from the battle. They dismounted, and washed in the fountain near the temple of Vesta. In answer to the many questions of people who were standing about, eager to know whether the strangers had brought news from the camp, they announced the Roman victory and related the particulars of the battle. The story goes that after they had left the Forum they were never seen again, despite efforts of the magistrate of the city.
The next day the persons entrusted with the care of the commonwealth received letters sent by the Dictator in which he gave an account of the apparition of god-like youths, and other details in connection with the battle. They then concluded that since the self-same figures had appeared in both places, they must be divinities or semi-divine beings, probably Castor and Pollux themselves.
Three massive columns remain from the Temple of Castor and Pollux. They are over forty-eight feet high The temple had been, rebuilt between 7 B.C. and 6 A.D. The statues of Castor and Pollux can be seen at the top of the stairs of the Capitoline Hill.

Romulus

The Arch of Constantine

This majestic arch was inaugurated in 315 A.D. It celebrates the final victory of Emperor Constantine and it marks the beginning of Rome as a Christian state.

The Altar of Julius Caesar

The scanty remains of the Altar of Julius Caesar, the altar of the temple built over the spot where the body of Caesar was cremated on the improvised pyre, near the old Rostra, from which Mark Anthony delivered his famous oration. Today one sees several portions of the foundation. It is thought that the altar on which Caesar's body had been cremated was in the center of a platform in the temple.
To the right are the remains of the Vesta temple and, on the Palatine hill, are the remains of the Imperial Palaces.

Curia (The Roman Senate)

The Roman Senate, the Council of the Elders (from Latin "senex" - old), was the most permanent element in the Roman constitution; it may have been started by Romulus who chose 100 of his best subjects. At first only patricians were eligible, but later plebeians were also admitted. Under the Republic it was the chief governing body (510 B.C. to 29 B.C.); under the Empire (29 B.C. to 475 A.D.) it lost its independence of action. The senators, who met in the present Curia, were Little more than ciphers. The Curia Hostilia was destroyed by a group of Romans protesting the murder of their hero Clodius.
The Curia which stands today was begun by Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. He aligned this new Curia with its surrounding structures. The interior has three steps for the senator's seats on either side of the vast hall. A speaker's podium was located at the end opposite of the door. The Curia Julia was dedicated by Augustus in 29 B.C.
The present pavement and architectural decoration date from the time of Diocletian, who is credited with the restoration in 283 A.D. after the Curia was damaged by fire. Transformed at the beginning of the seventh century into the church of St. Hadrian. The bronze doors were moved to the church of St. John Lateran. The Curia was restored to its original form as closely as possible in the 1930's. The original bronze doors are still hanging on the church of St.John Lateran.

The Campidoglio

The Piazza del Campidoglio. In the center, on the splendid pedestal by Michelangelo, stands the famous equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. The ramp like stair case leading up to the Piazza in the Capitoline hill was designed by Michelangelo. It is called the ``La Cardonata''. On two sides of the staircase are the marble statues of Castor and Pollux.
The square as we see it now was planned by Michelangelo in 1538 for the arrival in Rome of Emperor Charles V, but it was not finished until a century later. It is considered as one of the first examples of modern town planning.
The buildings on each side of the square house the first public collection of classic sculptures in the world. The palazzo dei Conservatori on the right has among the other famous master-pieces, the bronze She-Wolf and the Boy with the Thorn. In the courtyard are the remains of a colossal statue of Constantine and a mutilated inscription with the word BRIT, the first four letters of the word Brittani; it is a fragment of the arch of Claudius, erected to celebrate his conquest of Britain. The Capitoline museum on the left has the most complete collection of portraits of Roman Emperors and the famous statue of the Dying Gaul. In the center is the Senator's Palace or the town hall.

The Monument of Victor Emmanuel II

The much criticized monument to Victor Emmanuel II is dedicated to the independence and unification of Italy. It was inaugurated in 1911, designed by Sacconi, built all in white marble from Botticino, near Brescia in northern Italy, and took 26 years to build. It is disparagingly called the ``wedding cake'' by the Romans.
It is situated in Piazza Venezia. Right behind it on the left, along Via dei Fori Imperiali,are the ruins of the markets of Trajan, with the road leading up to the Colosseum; to the right are the Aracoeli church and the Capitol leading to the Roman forum.

The Trevi Fountain

The Trevi fountain, one of the most beautiful in Rome, was built to celebrate the return f water. Ancient Rome had some of the most wonderful monumental fountains, with water supplies from the 14 large Roman aqueducts, one of the wonders of the world. The first Trevi aqueduct was built under Augustus Caesar by Consul Agrippa, the same who built the first Pantheon.
At the fall of the empire, Rome was besieged and sacked, and to cut the water supply the aqueducts were destroyed or seriously damaged, and all through the middle ages the Romans suffered from shortage of water. During the renaissance the Popes restored some of the aqueducts, and to celebrate the return of water the monumental fountain were built. The most celebrated of them is the Fountain of Trevi. The fountain as we see now was completed in 1762 and was designed by Nicola Salvi. It took thirty years to build and the construction was not begun until two centuries after the plans had been made for this big fountain.
The fountain is also the last major construction in the Baroque style. It represents the triumph of Oceanus riding through a triumphal arch on a seashell pulled by triton's and two sea horses, one tamed and one untamed, to symbolize calm and rough waters. The four women figure up above represent the seasons of the year. The water supplying the fountain is called the Virgin Water. On one of the bas-reliefs on the fountain is the legend of the Roman maiden showing the source of this spring to a group of thirsty Roman soldiers coming from battle.

The Pantheon

The breath taking monument is the only architectural relic from imperial Rome that has remained intact till date, with the doors and the roofs surviving the wreckage of eighteen and half centuries! Pantheon is a Greek word meaning ``all the gods'' and the temple was dedicated to the planetarium divinities and was built first by Agrippa between 27 and 25 B.C. The present temple is the one that Emperor Hadrian re-built between 120 and 125 A.D. It was probably designed by the Emperor himself. Its perfect state of preservation is probably due to the fact that it was consecrated as a church dedicated to St. Mary of all Martyrs in 608 by Pope Boniface IV who received it from the Byzantine Emperor Phocas.
Its exterior with the pediment porch reminds one of a Greek temple and its interior is a classic Roman circular hall. It has a perfect proportion with the diameter equal to the height, 140 ft.If you imagine the dome continuing down in its curve, it would form a perfect sphere touching the floor. The dome, entirely built without reinforcement, has been the greatest in the world till date (St. Peter's is three feet less). The structure is an engineering feat which demonstrates profound knowledge of geometry, structures and architecture.
Buried in the Pantheon are some of Italy's greatest artists, including Raphael. The work on his grave are by his disciple Lorenzetto, the Madonna del Saso (the Madonna of the Stone).

The Fountain of four rivers

The fountain of four rivers is in the Piazza Navona, perhaps the most beautiful Piazza in Rome. The Piazza is built over the ruins of the Stadium of Domitian and the racing track.
The fountain is a master-piece of Bernini. The four allegorical figures represent the Nile, the Ganges, the Danube and the River Plate. The monumental facade of the church of S. Agnese in Agone is the work of Bernini's rival, Borromini; a popular legend maintains that Bernini's River Plate hides his face in shame from he church facade.