Sistine Chapel
Apostolic Palace, Vatican City, Vatican City
The Sistine Chapel was built for Pope Sixtus IV in the late fifteenth century. Its wall paintings were created by leading Italian Renaissance painters. Michelangelo painted the ceiling between 1508 and 1512 and The Last Judgment on the altar wall between 1536 and 1541.
Architecture
The rectangular chapel has a barrel-vaulted ceiling and two long walls decorated with parallel cycles from the lives of Moses and Christ. The entrance and altar walls complete the principal spatial divisions.
Religious Significance
The chapel is used for papal ceremonies and conclaves. Its paintings present biblical history, prophecy, and Christian teaching in an integrated visual program.
Sources
Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel; Web Gallery of Art, Visit to the Sistine Chapel
