Vatican City Part 1

 A trip to Vatican city formed the start of our second day in Italy. We dressed in pants and made sure our shoulders were covered (not tough for me) out of respect for Jesus and his disciples, hoped on the metro (subway) and after negotiating ticket purchase and our route found our way to the closest stop. Upon arriving we experienced an onslaught of con-artists posing as tour guides trying to get your business. We had tickets already purchased online, so it was just a matter of finding our way to the entrance. The con artists did serve a purpose in that they directed us in the correct direction since the entrance is not the intuitive gates of the St. Peter's Basilica, but rather at a corner of the walls surrounding the papal quarters and museums.

Despite having tickets there was of course still lines to wait in other lines, all of which were chaotic, poorly labeled, with just a slight suggestion of "order." Upon getting in we meandered around some of the court yards and outdoor space before ultimately deciding we were in desperate need of caffeine. Or at least I was.

 I made the mistake of accidentally ordering an espresso. It proceeded to make me jittery for a few minutes and probably left me in a state that was only slightly more coherent than how I started out.

The large piece of modern art in this court yard rotated. There were several interesting pieces here beyond the architectural flourishes of the buildings. It was an overcast day which would prove to be the only cloudy day of the vacation. It rained a little bit when we first arrived, and we lucked out by choosing an attraction that was mostly indoors.

 I don't have photos of the Medieval religious art halls we visited here, and I wish I did because so much of the propaganda was quite frankly very disturbing. Just very dark stuff, or just very weird almost scary stuff. If they weren't depictions of what would happen to you, they were depictions of frightening religious figures and saints with fierce glares, frowns, dark shadows on their faces, or supernatural beams shooting out from around their silhouettes. Seriously, if someone painted this sort of thing today, you would likely be suspicious of their sobriety. The politics of fear was alive and well with the Church.

There was a learning curve on what I could photograph, and how I could photograph things. I generally avoided taking pictures in the galleries at first, before ultimately realizing there was generally no problem as long as I didn't use a flash. The only exception to this rule was the Sistine Chapel. I'll get to that and some other great frescoes in a future post.

 Kate and a giant head.

 Kate and pot of flowers.

 Perseus holding Medusa's head. I'm not sure who the other statue is. I find the Vatican's collection of precursor religious art intriguing. On one hand, I'm pleased that at least some of this culture was preserved. On the other hand, the Romans were already known for collecting such items so it is perhaps only natural that the "Roman" Catholic Church would continue in the same tradition. The west would eventually do the same in contemporary museums, however I think the motivation was different. Where we typically are motivated by learning about people, history, and trying to relate to prior times, I'm suspicious that much of the motivation of the Church was to control contrarian propaganda, or perhaps use it to justify the Church's beliefs of superiority.

 I have many photos of the Vatican, and I'm probably going to write about this over the course of several posts. Think of this as a primer, an introduction. I realize I'm not giving many specifics, and that is partially because there was so much art to see it just is difficult to remember and write about it all. The picture above captures the masses of people. I've visited many major tourist sites now, and I think the Vatican probably has to be the place that had the greatest volume of people during a given moment.