The last time I was in the Vatican Museums was 1971, until last Thursday. During 1970-71 I was living in Rome and enrolled at the Rome Center of Loyola University of Chicago as a 3rd year university student.
Last week there was a grand reunion representing all classes who have attended the Rome Center and this occasion opened the door for an "after hours" private tour. 150 of us visited parts of the Museum and the Sistine Chapel.
Apollo Belvedere
Marble copy of a lost bronze original
made between 350 and 500 BC
This was one of the artworks looted from Rome by Napoleon and formed part of the collection of the Louvre. After the fall of Napoleon, the Apollo was repatriated to the Vatican.
The Belvedere Torso
Traditionally identified as Hercules from the 1st century BC
Legend has it that Pope Julius II requested that Michelangelo Buonarotti complete the statue fragment with arms, legs and a face. He respectfully declined, stating that it was too beautiful to be altered, and instead used it as the inspiration for the majority of the figures in the Sistine Chapel.
A nearly empty Sistine Chapel
Every day more than 20,000 people enter the Vatican Museums. Most arrive without reservations and have to wait in a line that can be more than 2 hours long.
If you make an online reservation you can go right up to the door, show your reservation and walk in. (I did not have to print out my reservation. I was able to have the reservation scanned from my iPad screen.
