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Explore the chapels, altars, and crypts of St. Peter's Basilica with an expert guide.
Explore the chapels, altars, and crypts of St. Peter's Basilica with an expert guide.
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Experience Basilica's Dome and uncover its stories with an expert guide.
Experience Basilica's Dome and uncover its stories with an expert guide.
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Your fast-track access ticket to Rome's most popular museum.
Your fast-track access ticket to Rome's most popular museum.
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Explore Vatican City’s top 3 sites & Entry to the Basilica with a guided tour
Explore Vatican City’s top 3 sites & Entry to the Basilica with a guided tour
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An unbeatable combo for neighboring sites in Rome!
An unbeatable combo for neighboring sites in Rome!
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Castel Sant’Angelo
St. Peter’s Basilica
Castel Sant’Angelo
St. Peter’s Basilica
You can visit the attractions of the Apostolic Palace between 8.30am and 4.30pm. The Vatican is not functional on Sundays.
The Palace is situated within the Vatican City walls.
Arranged around the Courtyard of Sixtus V, the Apostolic Palace is a series of self-contained buildings consisting of a recognized outer structure.
The Sistine Chapel is the best known amongst the Palace chapels and is named in honor of Sixtus IV. The Chapel is well-known for being a venue for the gathering of the College of Cardinals, used for the election of each successive Pope. Here, the cardinals elect a successor to the traditionally first pope, St. Peter, who is traditionally buried in the crypts near St. Peter’s Church. The Chapel is famous for its frescoes by various Renaissance artists during the era.
Know MoreThe Raphael Rooms are a suite of reception rooms in the Apostolic Palace, which is now a portion of the Vatican Museums, in Vatican City. These rooms are popular for their frescoes, done by a team of artists who were guided under Raphael. Commonly known as the Stanze, situated above Alexander’s Borgia Apartments, the Raphael Rooms were the apartments intended for Pope Julius II. He decided to redecorate the interiors of the rooms entirely, possibly to outshine the apartments of his predecessor.
The Borgia Apartments consists of a suite of rooms that were for the personal usage of Pope Alexander VI. The apartments were decorated lavishly with frescoes and used iconic themes from medieval encyclopedias, to add meaning and to celebrate the divine origins of Borgias.
The rooms are a part of the Vatican Library and Museums. Currently, these rooms are used for the Vatican Collection of Modern Religious Art, by Pope Paul VI in 1973.
The Clementine Hall, also called the Sala Clementina, was created in the 16th century in honor of the third Pope, Pope Clement I, by Pope Clement VIII. Just like the other apartments, the Clementine Hall also consists of numerous large collections of artifacts and frescos, that make the Clementine Hall a famous structure in itself. It is used by the pope as a reception room and sometimes as a site of various ceremonies and rituals. It is in the Clementine Hall that the body of the pope lies for private visitation by officials of the Vatican until it is moved to St. Peter's Basilica or the Basilica of San Giovanni.
The Apostolic Palace is home to the Pope and numerous officials involved in religious and administrative functions. It functions similarly to a state residence, managing the Vatican's various responsibilities.
The paintings in the Sistine Chapel are the most prominent works of art in the Apostolic Palace.
You can spot The Vision of The Cross (in the Hall of Constantine) and The Fire in the Borgo in the Raphael Rooms.
The Pinacoteca room houses notable works such as The Crucifixion of St. Peter.
Book Tickets to Sistine ChapelApart from being home to the Pope, the Apostolic Palace serves many functions. The Palace is used for performing several administrative meetings of the Vatican in terms of political, social, and economic aspects as a State. The palace has within it beautiful gardens, museums, a library, and more. Hence, this structure has become one of the top tourist attractions in the city of Rome, Italy.
Due to its dual nature as being the home to the pope as well as the site of administrative functions of the Holy See, it has assumed the same stature as the White House. It is a space that exercises various economic, political, and social responsibilities as a State. The term Apostolic Palace has, hence, come to be used as a metonym for the papacy itself, and not just the physical building.
The massive Apostolic Palace is the Pope’s place of residence. It's also home to various apartments, museums, offices, public and private chapels, to name a few amongst the lot. The Palace is inclusive of rooms such as the Sistine Chapel as well as Raphael’s room famous for its paintings and architecture. The Palace serves as a space to perform the religious and administrative functions of the city.
The Apostolic Palace is situated within Vatican City, just northeast of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The Pope resides in the Apostolic Palace. It is also home to various Vatican officials and staff who manage religious and administrative functions.
Yes, around 20 rooms of the Apostolic Palace are accessible to the public, including notable areas such as the Sistine Chapel, Raphael Rooms, and Borgia Apartments. Some sections, like the Sala Regia and Cappella Paolina, are not open to the public.
The Papal Palace is hardly two minutes away from St. Peter’s Square.
The construction of the Apostolic Palace (the Vatican or Papal Palace) in the Vatican City, was done between 1471 and 1605.
It was built as a replacement for the Lateran Palace, which served as the primary residence of the popes for over a millennium. The new Palace was intended to enhance the papal residence and administrative capabilities.