Planning a visit to the Vatican City & Museums in Rome to see the Sistine Chapel and want to know more about what you’re looking at? It’s is a great first step to truly understanding the masterpiece of masterpieces. This article details the top things you should see in the Sistine Chapel and why they are so important so you can add depth and meaning to your trip.
Pro Tip: This article will come in handy the day you are going to visit the Sistine Chapel. Bookmark it in your internet browser in a “Rome” folder so you can circle back to it. Also, the absolute best way to visit the Sistine Chapel is with a small group or private guided tours.
Top 17 Things to See in the Sistine Chapel
There are certain moments in life that are impossible to forget. Moments like your first kiss or your first time in a fancy restaurant. Another one of those ” firsts” would be entering the Sistine Chapel. When you truly understand the scale of the paintings, the time it took to decorate, and the artists involved, it becomes very clear that it is unlike anything else on the planet.
The Sistine Chapel is often considered one of the most famous landmarks in the world. People flock from all over the world to experience the immensity of the artwork of this holy chapel and closely associate the beauty of the Sistine Chapel with its floor-to-ceiling frescoes. Additionally, the artists who dedicated years of their lives in the Sistine Chapel were some of Italy’s most celebrated Renaissance artists.
I cannot tell you how much I wished you were here, for until you have seen the Sistine Chapel, you can have no adequate conception of what man is capable of accomplishing.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
17. Central Panels
Michelangelo | 1508-1512 | Fresco | Ceiling
Below you will find some individual paintings that are located in the central panels. However, the central paintings are that good that I felt the entire ceiling deserved a spot dedicated to it. Michelangelo painted the central panels of the Sistine Chapel that depict the early stages of the Universe’s creation as defined by Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Dogma. It is a shared chapter of the sacred book titled Genesis which details the creation of all things – again, according to dogma. It is arguably the most influential chapter of any book in Western Civilization.
While many today rely on science to solve the mystery of the world’s creation, in the 16th century when Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel there were very few that looked to science.
Most people couldn’t read and therefore art was the ideal way to explain the story of the bible. Not that the Sistine Chapel would become a public venue in his lifetime – it most certainly did not, but artists almost always took that part of their job into consideration. Art, in its purest form, translates text into a form that the illiterate can understand.
Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel by Pope Sixtus, someone who according to dogma has a direct line to the Almighty, to depict how we arrived on Earth and our purpose on the ceiling of the most important of all chapels.
Therefore, the outcome truly shows how seriously he took this commission. A religious person would say it was God who painted through Michelangelo considering he hit a grand slam on his first-ever fresco – yes, the Sistine Chapel ceiling was Michelangelo’s first fresco.
16. Legacy and Death of Moses
Luca Signorelli | 1481-1483 | Fresco | Lateral Wall- Life of Moses
This painting talks about the final episodes in Mose’s life. There is also controversy about if Signorelli really painted this or not. Giorgio Vasari who was the leading biographer of the day was convinced that it was him, while many art historians today believe that it was actually Bartolomeo Della Gatta.
On the right-hand side, there is Moses who is reading to his followers. At his feet is the ark of the covenant where the tablets of the law are stored. The scene in the middle shows Moses conferring power onto Joshua who will take over God’s flock. In the background, Moses is speaking with an Angel who is showing him the Promised land which he will never get to see because he dies beforehand. Then in the left corner, you’ll see his followers are lamenting him as he has died at this point.
15. Creation of Eve from the Body of Adam
Michelangelo | 1508-1512 | Fresco | Ceiling
In the book of Genesis you have the following about the creation of Eve:
“So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
Here you see Eve springing to life from what looks like a sleeping Adam as God beckons her to him.
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14. The Sacrifice of Noah
Michelangelo | 1508-1512 | Fresco | Ceiling
In the bible it says- Noah built an altar to the Lord; he took one of each kind of ritually clean animal and bird and burned them whole as a sacrifice on the altar. 21 The odor of the sacrifice pleased the Lord
In biblical chronology, this actually happens after the flood, but it is probable that Michelangelo wanted more space for the Flood, since that painting was to be such an epic scene and there this was put before. The story is of sacrifice to god after surviving the flood as mentioned above.
13. The Flood
Michelangelo | 1508-1512 | Fresco | Ceiling
In the bible it reads-Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
Supposedly Michelangelo created this painting out of chronological order ( in the bible), so that he would have more room for this painting. There is a lot going on here so spend a little while looking up at this painting.
God decided to create a flood for 40 days and nights to destroy all the evil in the world and commanded Noah to build an ark of gopher wood and grab a pair of all animals. Michelangelo displays this epic event not only of the ark, but also of various vain attempts of others to survive, either by climbing up a hill or scrambling onto a boat. In the end, they will all perish except Noah’s ark.
You will notice a gap on one side of the fresco. It happened in 1797 when an explosion of some barrels of gunpowder stored at the top of the nearby Castel Sant’Angelo caused this portion of the ceiling to fall!
Enrico Bruschini- Art Historian & Official Vatican Tour Guide
12. The Last Supper
Cosimo Rosselli | 1481-1483 | Fresco | Lateral Wall- Life of Jesus
Many people think that there is only 1 last supper painting and that is by Da Vinci. The fact is that the Last Supper was quite a popular theme for painting and hundreds of them exist. Each last supper has its own particular characteristics and this one by Cosimo Rosselli is not different.
In the painting, Jesus has just shared the news that he is going to die after passing around the bread and some wine. The faces of the Apostles don’t have many expressions of surprise on them, because as it has been mentioned, in the Renaissance, the focus was on ideal beauty which is more important than the actual event happening. The only Apostle on the other side of the table is Judas, who is already holding a sack with the silver coins inside for his betrayal to tell the Jewish elders who Jesus was.
Above everyone are three windows, which instead of showing some background, alluding to the three events from the bible which will happen next. From the left there is first the prayer on the mount of olives, then the betrayal, and finally the crucifixion. A side note- remember that Cosimo Rosselli’s last name derives from the word ” Red”- there is a man on the right-hand corner who is looking right at us, with a red hat on!
11. David and Goliath
Michelangelo | 1508-1512 | Fresco | Ceiling- Corner painting
One of the more famous stories in the bible. The story of David and Goliath is the true story of an underdog. It makes me think of the film ” Rudy”. Goliath, who was a giant, is struck down by a much smaller in stature, but much bigger heart David.
Michelangelo is showing us the moment when David is about to strike the giant and behead him. David is straddling him with his sword high in the air and the terrified Goliath accepts his fate.
10. The journey of Moses in Egypt
Pietro Perugino | 1481-1483 | Fresco | Lateral Wall- Life of Moses
As in most of these side panels, there are multiple scenes in this painting. Moses spends 40 years in the land of Midian after killing an Egyptian. After these 40 long years, God gives Moses a sign to come back to Egypt to save his people from the excesses and tyranny of the Pharaoh.
The next scene shows a story from the book of Exodus where God has threatened Moses. At that point, Mose’s wife, Zipporah rushes to sacrifice an animal in order to save Moses from death.
On the lower right-hand side of the painting Mose’s baby son, Eliezer, is in the process of getting circumcised by his mother Zipporah who is a Midianite. In the center of the painting, Mose’s is getting stopped by an Angel which was usually a sign of God.
9. Events in the life of Moses
Sandro Botticelli | 1481-1483 | Fresco | Lateral Wall- Life of Moses
When you ask someone to name. a painting by Botticelli they always say – The Birth of Venus-! And rightly so, since it’s an amazing painting. However, most do not know that he painted in the Sistine Chapel! If you look closely at this painting and the “Temptation of Christ” ( see below), you will instantly recognize the faces of his characters.
This fresco shows various episodes about Mose’s youth from the book of Exodus. There are 3 scenes and the story goes from right to left. The first scene is when Mose’s kills a man for insulting an Israelite and then flees into the desert in Midian.
The next scene is when he fights off a group of shepherds who were not letting the daughters of Jethro water their flock at the well. One of those daughters was Zipporah who would eventually become Mose’s wife. You will notice in this scene the beautiful woman with blond hair who was a staple of Botticelli’s paintings.
The final scene starts on the top left side of the painting where Mose hears the voice of God and removes his sandals. He approaches the burning bush where the voice of God tells him to return to Egpyt and announce to everyone that he will be freeing the Jews from Slavery.
8. Baptism of Christ
Pietro Perugino | 1481-1483 | Fresco | Lateral Wall- Life of Jesus
The “Baptism of Christ” shows the real beginning of Jesus’ journey to become the messiah. On the right-hand side, you see John the Baptist speaking with a crowd while in the back left, you can see Jesus preaching to a different crowd.
The main attention is addressed to the center of the painting. Here, John the Baptist is starting to pour water over the head of a pius Jesus. There are crowds on both sides of the painting who are watching the event and interestingly enough they are all dressed in Renaissance style clothes of the time. Above you see God who is watching over the entire proceeding.
In the background there are other scantily clad men, who it would seem are waiting to be baptized after Jesus. Perugino’s master of perspective is also on display here as the painting reveals a castle in the background and then goes even farther back to show distant mountains and what looks like a lake. Raphael, who was Perugino’s student, was very fond of using this kind of background.
7. Banishment from the Garden of Eden
Michelangelo | 1508-1512 | Fresco | Ceiling
Imagine what it would feel like to be in the garden of Eden? Now imagine you get kicked out of this Eden. How would you feel? Looking at this painting will give you an idea. Michelangelo shows two scenes here with the first scene on the left side interpreting original sin. In this scene they young, healthy, and beautiful.
They are still perfect beings without any sense of shame or wrongdoing. The serpent is in the tree and suggests to Eve that they eat the forbidden fruit. Eve tells adam to eat it and in doing so they have disobeyed God.
At that point, the scene on the right shows what happens next. First of all, they become aware of their nudity and of the fact that they are humans. They are therefore banished from the garden of Eden and the contrast in their figures from those on the left is astounding.
They have horror in their eyes and the expression on their face explains exactly how one would feel who is banished from paradise. Michelangelo would have been heavily influenced in this painting by the artist Masaccio whose painting the Master would have seen in the Brancacci chapel in Florence.
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6. Judith and Holofernes
Michelangelo | 1508-1512 | Fresco | Ceiling- Corner painting
Judith and Holofernes is a painting that you will need to get right under to see really well. When you get a good look at it you will almost cringe away from it since it’s so graphic. The expression ” head on a platter” originates here.
According to the bible, the city of Bethulia was being besieged by the Babylonian king Nabucodonosor. To save her city, Judith came to his tent in the night and when he was overcome with wine, she cut his head off.
She then put his head on a plate and showed it to his soldiers and in doing so saved her city. Michelangelo breaks this up into 3 scenes of the sleeping guards, the head on a plate, and the beheaded King.
If you look closely at the head on the platter you can see that which almost all consider to be a magnificent self-portrait of Michelangelo. The face is very similar to that sculpted by Daniele da Volterra and preserved in Florence in the Casa Buonarroti.
Enrico Bruschini- Art Historian & Official Vatican Tour Guide
5. Passage of the Red Sea
Biagio d’Antonio/ Cosimo Rosselli | 1481-1483 | Fresco | Lateral Wall- Life of Moses
It is not certain if the painter for this was Cosimo Rosselli or his assistant Biagio d’Antonio so we will give them both credit. This epic story in the bible, which is also one of the most famous in the old testament is showing how Moses escapes with all his followers and they come to the Red Sea.
The Egyptian warriors are close on their heels and it looks like a dead-end, but Mose prays to God who parts the waters of the Red Sea, and Moses and his followers proceed to walk through the Sea on dry land. The Pharaoh’s army proceeds as well, but after the last of Mose’s followers make their way through, the waters come crashing down and destroy the entire army.
4. Temptations of Christ
Sandro Botticelli | 1481-1483 | Fresco | Lateral Wall- Life of Jesus
The devil tempted Jesus many times to try and break him from his attempt to become the Messiah. In the upper left corner, Satan is disguised as a hermit and asks Jesus for a miracle to test him. In the center background, Satan tries to get Jesus to Jump off the temple.
The temple resembles the construction of the Santo Spirito church by the Vatican which Sixtus IV was building. The last scene is on the right-hand side where Jesus throws Satan off of a cliff.
In the center of the painting, there is a sacrificial rite happening. This interpretation is usually referring to the Leper who, after he was healed by Jesus, made a sacrifice in his honor.
Some art historians see this scene as allegorical with the older priest being Moses and the young man being Jesus. The sacrifice is that of Jesus himself making the ultimate sacrifice for mankind.
3. Handing over the Keys
Pietro Perugino | 1481-1483 | Fresco | Lateral Wall- Life of Jesus
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this is the 3rd most famous painting in the chapel after the ceiling and Last Judgement. Perugino is able to create extreme depth in the painting by his expert use of perspective here. In doing so, he created 3 layers of composition.
In the foreground and the most important scene is Christ standing in front of a kneeling St. Peter. On both sides of them there are the usual group of people as in the other paintings looking on at the event with almost disinterest but in line with the standards of the time. Peter is receiving the 2 keys ( Gold key is that of heaven and Silver is that on earth) from Jesus.
Behind them, there is a massive piazza, which is not based on any real place, but more of an ” ideal piazza”. From a distance, it actually looks like people are ice skating, but they are getting ready to stone a future martyr.
In the background, there are two arches which are replicas of the Arch of Constantine, which again plays an important role in Christianity since he was accredited as being the first Christian Emperor. Finally, in the background, you can see hills off in the great distance, exemplifying Perugino’s use of Perspective.
2. The Last Judgement
Michelangelo | 1536-1541 | Fresco | Sistine Chapel
I want you to picture anyone you know who is 61 years old and male. Got it? Now I want you to imagine that person for the next five years is painting a wall that is 42ft high and 39ft long. I personally don’t know any 61 years who could do that today. The one condition I forgot to add is that the painting they create has to be so good, that it will be described as one of the best ever created in the history of man. Now you understand why Michelangelo is arguably the greatest of all time.
In the upper lunettes, angels are carrying instruments used during the passion of Christ ( the cross, the whip and column he was whipped on, and the crown of thorns. Below, an extremely muscular Jesus with no beard in a powerful position is presiding over the entire scene with a radiant halo bursting behind him. Figures that are recognizable are John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary, St Peter holding the keys, and various other saints holding the instrument in their hands with which they were martyred.
Below, a group of Angels is blowing trumpets and holding 2 books that decide their fate ascending to heaven or going to hell. Those redeemed are ascending from their graves while the condemned are descending into the underworld.
For example, here Michelangelo alludes to Greek mythology with the demon ( Charon) on a boat who is bringing all the damned souls over to the underworld. On the far right side, you will see the Devil himself and all the damned and lost souls behind him in Hell.
Interesting Facts
When the painting was unveiled, many were shocked by the amount of nudity in the painting. Biagio da Cesena who was a Cardinal said that this was better suited for a tavern than the holy chapel of the Pope. It is said that Michelangelo then changed the face of the devil to that of the Cardinal and wrapped a snake going around his body and biting him in the groin area.
Below Jesus, you will find St Bartholomew who was skinned alive. In his right hand, he is holding a knife, and in his left hand his own skin! Many contemporaries suggested that Michelangelo did a self-portrait in the skin!
If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all
Michelangelo
1.The Creation of Man
Michelangelo | 1508-1512 | Fresco | Ceiling
One of the most famous and reproduced paintings on the planet is Michelangelo’s Creation of Man. God is breathing life into Adam who is in a reclining position and embodies the perfection as described in the old testament of a man being an imitation of God himself.
A magical enigma here is that the hands between the two almost touch, but don’t. Many art historians point to this painting as having significant allegorical connotations between Michelangelo and his Father. Their relationship had always been very rocky due to the fact that his father never truly approved of his profession. In not allowing their hands to touch he shows his father’s dissatisfaction with him.
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