vatican museum
vatican museum
Vatican Museums
THE TREASURES OF THE PAPACY
The Vatican Museums house some of the most important collections in the world. Here in these historic rooms, you can discover the vast array of works amassed by the papacy – from Ancient Egyptian art to modern contemporary pieces. And if you ask yourself: where in Rome is the Sistine Chapel? Well, you’ll find it in this giant complex! Not to miss are the Raphael’s Rooms, too!
- Admission with an audio guide is available for EUR 39 if you plan in advance. Without Audio guide it is EUR 32
- Or book a guided Tour! Here is one example for EUR 95
Opening hours 2025
Monday to Saturday
8.00 – 20.00 h
last admission 18.00 h
Closed on Sundays
Every last Sunday of the month
9.00 – 14.00 h
last admission 12.30 h
Free admission
Current advice 2025:
Last year it was ‘bad’. It felt like the tickets on the official website were always sold out. For some people, the tickets from the ticket agencies were the last chance to visit the Vatican Museums. Even if they are a bit expensive.
We are now looking forward to 2025. There are extended opening hours, but the Holy Year is coming up.
The alternative agency tickets are currently EUR 32 (audio guide EUR 39) with GetyourGuide
or EUR 32 (without audio guide alternative) with Tiqets.
You can also queue on site: Susi sent us pictures of the queue. But queuing is no guarantee that you will get in. When the day tickets are gone, they are gone… Therefore: Come early – very early – when joining the queue!
Who is writing here?
Hi, I’m Céline and the last time I visited the Vatican Museums was at the end of 2022. That was my 4th visit in total.
Susi has also been to the hallowed halls twice for museos (most recently in October 2023).
-> So we can say that we know the art and the routes and can always keep you up to date on tickets, admission, and queues!
And after the stress in the Vatican Museums?
Enjoy a food tour through Prati.
My Rating:
The positives:
For art enthusiasts, the Vatican Museums are one of the must-see destinations in the world. And even if art’s not really your thing, they’re still one of the top attractions in Rome. After all, no trip to the city would be complete without seeing the Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s Rooms and some wonderful Ancient Roman sculptures!
The negatives:
Tickets are expensive, but with 7 kilometres of galleries to explore, you can easily spend the whole day here (if you want to!).
Tip:
Pre-book your tickets online! No matter what time of year you visit, there’s always a queue on the door.
Last Modification: 13.01.2025 | Céline
vatican museum
tickets
My tip
The Rome Tourist Card
Do you want to book the most important sights with just one click? The Colosseum, St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums? And in English? Then you’ve come to the right place. Because some of the official sites are not translated (IT only) or don’t even have an option to buy tickets.
At Tiqets, you pay a little more, but it’s still better than waiting in a queue on site.
So you can visit the highlights with just one purchase! Choose your preferred date and the ticket option that suits you best – so you can discover Rome for yourself without stress.
- Colosseum + Roman Forum
- Vatican Museums + Sistine Chapel -> Skip the line
- St. Peter’s Basilica (NO Skip the line) OR Pantheon Rome OR Castel Sant’Angelo
- You can choose from different options for all sights
- Audio guide app for Rome
- 10% on all further purchases from Tiqets
vatican museum tickets | prices | Information | buy Ticket |
---|---|---|---|
Official Website |
EUR 25 | New Prices: Online 25 Euro. Cheaper than the agencies, but the tickets are booked out quickly. | Official website |
|
Online TicketEUR 32 |
GetYourGuide: Skip the line! Admission to the Vatican Museums EUR 39 for Admission + Audio guide |
Buy Ticket |
Online-Ticket |
EUR 32 | Tiqets Alternative: Skip the line! Admission to the Vatican Museums | Buy Ticket |
|
Rome Tourist Card fromEUR 96 | Admission to Vatican Museums + Admission to Colosseum + Roman Forum + St. Peter or other | Buy Ticket |
Guided Tour 1 from |
EUR 55.90 | Guided Tour in EN/FR/IT/ES, Duration: 2 hours | Book tour |
|
Guided Tour 2EUR 52.90 |
Guided tour in EN/ ES/FR/GE/IT/PO, Duration: 2.5 hours |
Book tour |
Last Minute Ticket |
EUR 57 | Last Minute Admission without Audio guide (can be added on site), with reservation at the Pantheon | Buy Ticket |
|
Vatican PassEUR 59 | Admission to the Vatican Museum + Guided Tour St. Peter 1 hour | Book Tour |
The details
at a glance
What is there
to see?
The Vatican Museums are a complex of 15 museums and 30 collections. Highlights include the Egyptian Museum, the Pio Clementino Museum with its famous Roman sculptures, the Vatican Pinacoteca and, of course, the famous Raphael’s Rooms and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.
With 7 km of galleries to explore, there’s so much to see that you could, in theory, spend a whole day here. However, the museums do get very busy. You really don’t want to take a wrong turn or lose your group or your partner (I’m speaking from experience!).
Before visiting, make a plan and work out exactly what you want to see. You don’t want to miss out on seeing the Laocoön Group statue or Raphael’s ‘Transfiguration’.
To help you out, I’ve put together a list of must-see attractions.
The Map
Room Plan
The list orders all the museums and rooms within the Vatican Museums complex
by importance (the numbers in brackets show their location on the map):
1. Sistine Chapel (No. 25)
2. Raphael’s Rooms (No. 16–19)
3. Pinacoteca (‘Transfiguration’ by Raphael, ‘Deposition’ by Caravaggio) (No. 33)
4. Octagonal Court (Laocoön Group, Apollo, Perseus) (No. 6)
5. Pio Clementino Museum (Roman sculpture) (No. 5)
6. Chiaramonti Museum (Roman sculpture) (No. 7)
7. Egyptian Museum (No. 9)
8. Gallery of Tapestries (No. 13)
9. Gallery of Maps (No. 14)
10. Collection of Modern Religious Art (Francis Bacon, Salvador Dali) (No. 24)
11. Vatican Library (No. 26)
12. Gregoriano Profano Museum (No. 1)
13. Pius-Christian Museum (No. 2)
14. Ethnological Museum (No. 3)
15. Atrium of the Four Gates (No. 4)
16. Lapidary Gallery (No. 8, closed when I visited)
17. Etruscan Museum (No. 10)
18. Niccoline Chapel (No. 20)
19. Chapel of Urban VIII (No. 21)
20. Borgia Apartment (No. 22)
21. Salette Borgia (No. 23)
22. Christian Museum (No. 27)
23. New Wing (No. 30)
24. Profane Museum (No. 31)
MICHELANGELO’S
SISTINE CHAPEL
Where do I start? There’s so much to say about the Sistine Chapel – much more than I could possibly fit on this website. So, for now, I’ll stick to a brief introduction to the key features…
The Sistine Chapel was erected between 1475 and 1483 for Pope Sixtus IV, hence its name.
There is nothing remarkable about its architecture or its size. In fact, it measures just 40.9 m long, 13.4 m wide and 20.7 m high.
But it is famous for two reasons:
1. The Sistine Chapel is where papal conclaves are convened to elect a new pope. Whenever this happens, the chapel is obviously closed to visitors.
2. Michelangelo Buonarroti famously spent several years of his life creating the world-renowned frescos on the chapel’s ceiling and altar wall.
The ceiling frescos
Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1508 by Pope Julius II, who was a great patron of the arts.
After some persuasion, the pope gave Michelangelo an almost free hand in the creation of his masterpiece spanning 520 m².
Most of the frescos depict scenes from the Book of Genesis, including the most famous fresco of all – The Creation of Adam.
Unfortunately, I can’t show you any detailed pictures because photography is banned inside the chapel (don’t even try and sneak a quick shot – you’ll end up (like I did) with a red face and a blurred photo), but you know the one I mean… the famous image of Adam and God, fingers outstretched, almost touching.
In total, it took Michelangelo four years to create the ceiling frescos, lying on his back on his 20-metre-high wooden scaffold. The results of his labours were finally unveiled in 1512 and the epic frescos have grown in fame ever since.
The altar fresco
But the story doesn’t end there, because 20 years later, Michelangelo returned to complete another masterpiece – the altar fresco.
In 1532, Pope Clement VII commissioned the now 60-year-old Michelangelo to paint the Last Judgment on the altar wall. This epic work, measuring 200 m², took five years to complete and depicts an unbelievable 390 figures, some of which appear larger than life. What’s more, Michelangelo is believed to have painted every inch himself!
When the altar fresco was finally unveiled in 1541, controversy erupted. Critics found the nude figures obscene and were appalled at the depiction of St. Bartholomew holding his own flayed skin.
After Michelangelo’s death, another artist, Daniele da Volterra, was hired to paint over the nude bodies, which earned him the nickname Il Braghettone (The Breeches Maker).
Luckily for us, these changes were reversed during restoration work between 1980 and 1994, so you can now see the fresco in all its original glory.
Sculptures
THE AMAZING ANTIQUITIES
Laocoön and His Sons
This marble sculpture was stumbled upon in 1506 in the Domus Aurea, Emperor Nero’s golden palace in Rome. It is a copy of a bronze original from the Greek city of Pergamon dating back to the 2nd century B.C. This was an exciting find during the Renaissance, as all that had remained of the sculpture was a description by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder. The marble statue was handed straight over to Pope Julius II and incorporated into his Vatican art collections.
Also known as the Laocoön Group, the sculpture shows Laocoön and his sons being attacked by sea serpents. Laocoön was a Trojan priest of Apollo who was opposed to the famous Trojan Horse ruse. And so Greek gods Poseidon and Athena sent two giant snakes as his punishment for trying to warn the Trojans about the horse entering the city of Troy. The snakes immediately started to attack Laocoön and his sons. Looking at the sculpture, though, we can assume that one of his sons managed to break free from the attack…
Apollo Belvedere
“…the highest ideal of art among all classic works that have survived.”
Johann Joachim Winkelmann, the most prominent German art historian and archaeologist of the 18th century, on this depiction of Apollo.
This marble statue is a copy of the Greek bronze original by Leochares from the 4th century B.C. It has been rediscovered in a villa near Rome at the end of the 15th century. And then it belonged to the collection owned by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, who went on to become one of the biggest art collectors in the Vatican as Pope Julius II. Unsurprisingly, he made sure to take this sculpture with him to the Vatican too.
The Greek god of healing, spring, light, the arts and archery, Apollo, is depicted here in a regal stance, seemingly having just fired an arrow with his bow. Although that bow, the bottom of his right arm and his left hand were sadly missing from the original, repairs were made in 2008 to complete the scene.
Perseus with the Head of Medusa
In Greek mythology, Perseus is the son of Zeus and a mortal named Danae. Even his birth is legendary, as his father is said to have impregnated Danae in the form of a golden rain shower. With Perseus believed to pose a threat to his grandfather Acrisius, he and his mother are banished and intercepted by King Polydectes. The king shows a keen interest in Danae, who is protected at all costs by Perseus. And so King Polydectes tasks him with the challenge of slaying the Gorgon Medusa, confident that Perseus will not succeed and that he will have a better chance of pursuing Danae. But he doesn’t realise that Perseus will have the help of the gods on his side.
The Gorgon Medusa is one of three winged monsters with snakes for hair, and the only one who is mortal. Anyone who looks directly at the Gorgons will be turned to stone. And so the goddess Athena gives Perseus a shiny shield to help him complete the task. Perseus manages to creep up on the three sleeping Gorgons and cut off Medusa’s head.
This statue shows Perseus triumphantly holding up the head of Medusa. You can also see the other gifts given to him by the gods to get the job done – the sword, the helmet of invisibility, the winged sandals and the cloak.
But remember: This sculpture itself doesn’t date back to antiquity! Its link to Greek mythology is what has earnt its place in the Octagonal Court. The statue was finished in around 1800 by Antonio Canova.
Top tip: If you’re interested in the story of Medusa, you can admire a painting of her severed head by Peter Paul Rubens next time you’re at the KHM in Vienna.
Vatican Museums
A bit of history
The museum complex
The buildings that make up the museum complex have been extended by many different popes over the centuries. The original foundation stone was laid by Pope Nicholas V (reigned 1447–1455) in around 1450. Unfortunately, he died just five years later in 1455 and so only lived to see the Borgia Apartments and the Stanze (now known as Raphael’s Rooms) completed.
Another important wing was constructed under Pope Sixtus IV (reigned 1471–1484), who notably commissioned the Cappella Magna, or Sistine Chapel as it is more famously known.
Most recently, a new entrance to the museums was constructed to mark the Holy Year of 2000. The new entrance is still on the north side of the Vatican, but offers a larger space for security lines, ticket desks and cloakroom facilities.
Today, the complex comprises a patchwork of 1400 rooms spread over an unbelievable 55,000 m² (equivalent to around 13 football pitches). Very few of the rooms are used by the Pope and the papal household. And the vast majority are open to the public as part of the Vatican Museums. It’s an enormous site, so as I said before, take care not to lose your way in the vast maze of corridors, rooms and courtyards.
The collections
Pope Julius II (reigned 1503–1513) is credited with first establishing the Vatican Museums when he invited certain favoured visitors to view his private collection of ancient art.
Over the centuries, various popes have added new collections to the museum complex.
The original sculpture collection belonging to Pope Julius II, which includes the Laocoön Group and the Apollo Belvedere, is today housed in the Octagonal Court.
Pope Clement XIV (reigned 1769–1774) and Pope Pius VI (reigned 1775–1799) also opened their private collections to the public, creating the Pio Clementino Museum. Pope Pius VII (reigned 1800–1823) founded the Chiaramonti Museum and the New Wing, and Pope Gregory XVI (reigned 1831–1846) was responsible for the Gregorian Egyptian Museum and the Gregorian Etruscan Museum.
Finally, the new Vatican Pinacoteca was commissioned in 1932 by Pope Pius XI (reigned 1922–1939). Designed by the architect Luca Beltrami, the new gallery comprises 16 renaissance-style rooms and was built to display the papal painting collection, which dates from the Middle Ages to the 18th century – although the renaissance paintings are the real jewels in the collection’s crown. Following the completion of the gallery, Pope Pius XI went on to double the size of the collection through new purchases. So visit today and you’ll discover masterpieces from Giotto, Fra Angelico, Perugino, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio and many more.
Official website of the Vatican Museums (EN): museivaticani.va
Text and image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2016 – 2025