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Museums in Vatican City           (Recommended Tour: Vatican and Sistine Chapel Tour)

Vatican Museums
Click here to watch a 20 sec video of Raphael's School of Athens in the Vatican Museums
This is the place where you will find Michelangelo's exquisite ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It's stunning beauty attracts millions of tourists and visitors of all faiths from all over the world. Due to its high popularity, it is usually very crowded. You may have to wait for as much as 2-3 hours! To avoid this, try going on weekdays. Also due to the crowd, there isn't much time to look at everything and find answers to questions. The labeling in the museum is not very good, it is a good idea to take along a very detailed guidebook. The map gallery inside the Vatican Museum has on display some old, huge maps, an absolute treat for the history and geography lover. Try to be at the Vatican Museums entrance promptly at 8:45am when it opens, and opt for one of the shorter marked routes, preferably A. Bring binoculars.Be prepared for some serious neck craning while you look at the amazing ceiling of the Sistine Chapel! And you will be gazing at this a while most probably, so a hand-held mirror is nice to have...
 

Vatican Grottoes

Beneath the main floor of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City  are the tombs of several popes and saints. It houses the tombs of scores of popes; others are buried in the basilica; most of the rest lie in other churches in Rome. John Paul II's burial place is where John XXIII lay before he was moved to a chapel in 2001 after his beatification. John Paul II lies in a cypress wood coffin, which was put into a sealed zinc coffin and covered by an oak casket. Some European royals are also buried in the underground cemetery, including Queen Cristina of Sweden. A visit to this site will leave a typical visitor to Vatican with a melancholic, nostalgic feeling...

Papal Stables (Scuderie Papalie al Quirinale)
The former papal stables at the Quirinale is now a redesigned 18th-century building, which houses contemporary-style art exhibitions such as French Impressionist paintings, Botticelli Artwork and photographs by Sebastiao Salgado. Must see for every Vatican City visitor!

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