The Vatican: Masterpieces

• Illustrations of some of the greatest art produced in the Western world

The Vatican Museums contain some of the greatest Western art. Collected by successive popes since the early 15th century, thousands of works of art are housed in the papal palace and elsewhere in the Vatican. With several museums, Library exhibition rooms and various suites of Renaissance painting – including Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and the Stanze, decorated by Raphael and others – the papal complex has some of the most beautiful rooms in existence. Perhaps most famous for classical sculpture, such as the Apollo Belvedere and the Belvedere Torso, the Vatican Museums also have rich collections of, for example, early Christian art, jewellery and vestments. This selection of masterpieces gives both the visitor and the reader a privileged insight into the core of these incomparable collections.