The Vatican Museum - 2002

Random Recollections

• The Vatican Museum is one of the premier museums in the world. You can read all about the factual details at the following sites:
• http://www.christusrex.org/www1/vaticano/0-Musei.html
• http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html
• http://touritaly.org/tours/vaticanmuseum/Vatican01.htm
• http://www.roma2000.it/zmusvat.html
• I was stunned by the amount of religious and non-religious material which had been collected over the years. Everything from ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, and Egyptian treasures to the well known art of the Renaissance (the Sistine chapel and rooms containing the works of famous artists such as Michangelo, Raphael, etc.). The quality and amount of art, especially historical pieces, overwhelms you. Fred said that he thought it was one of the most spectacular museums in the world and Fred, being the chair of the history department at ACU, has been to many of them.
• This is one of those places that deserves to be visited on several occasions, because as you continue through the halls and rooms, you become jaded and overwhelmed, so that your senses become dulled to what you are seeing after several hours. I know that we missed fully appreciating many wonderful things because of this, but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
• One interesting thing was the amount of security before we entered the museum. I was wearing my vest containing 28 pockets of camera, PDA, and related gear, and this was the most thoroughly I was searched on the entire trip. I'm not sure they knew what to think about a vest with so many pockets and so much stuff.