We saved our tour of the Vatican City on Wednesday, our last day in Rome, which is when the Pope usually holds mass at St. Peter's Square. We were told it was quite an interesting experience to be a part of the papal audience. Unfortunately for us, the Pope was supposedly sick and wasn't able to make an appearance. That explains why the square wasn't filled with a mass amount of people when we arrived.
I was completely overwhelmed with everything that we saw here: larger than life statues, iconic frescos, symbolic images, impressive architecture, detailed embellishments; the Roman Catholic's legacy in all its glory. I stood before Michelangelo's infamous paintings in the Sistine Chapel, The Last Judgment and the iconic image of the Creation of Adam on the ceiling. The massive proportions of his paintings as well as his work in St. Peter's Basilica were indescribable. And never have I seen as grand a church as St. Peter's Basilica. The enormity of the interior's size is incomprehensibly huge that you feel somewhat insignificant standing even next to a Holy Water basin. I could spend days in here and still not fully absorb the significance and historical associations of each statue, painting and scripture. Really, there are no words that can describe this unforgettable experience and the photos I took can't do it justice either. I'll end this post on that note and share with you what I tried to capture in pictures.
: Panoramic view of St. Peter's Square :
: Arnaldo Pomodoro's Sphere Within a Sphere :
: Belvedere Torso :
: Ceiling inside the Gallery of Maps :
: Michelangelo's Last Judgment inside the Sistine Chapel, seconds before I got yelled at by a guard. "NO FOTOS!" :
: The altar with Bernini's baldacchino :
... and a hundred some more over here...
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