Vatican Museum Day!

Today, we went to the Vatican Museums, where I've been before, but I never got the opportunity to stay in them all day and just look to my little heart's content, so that made me happy.

Wow. Hello, run-on.

Anyway, there was so much to look at and so much to see that I didn't quite take a connections or analytical standpoint. Mostly, I just sat there and looked, which was nice because sometimes you have to do that. Especially in the Sistine Chapel.

Some of the awesome things I saw today were the Faberge eggs collection, which not only had the famous Easter eggs linked to the Russian monarchy but also some other trinkets from the time. Best quote from the exhibition: "enameled cockerel with its glittering diamonds jumps out of the shell."

It turns out that I didn't have to make connections; the museum made a lot of them for me.

Connections! (You have to imagine this being done with jazz hands like Michelle does so much)
- In The Final Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, you can see Charon at the bottom beating people with an oar as he takes them across the Styx. How can you tell it's the Styx if it's a Christian painting? People are holding their noses. Because the river smells. Wow.
- The museum said that the idea of God converting people with his words goes back to the idea of Orpheus, who was able to charm things with his music.
- The Jonah symbols so prominent on Christian sarcophagi are not only related to Endymion the sleeping shepherd and love of Selene the moon goddess but also to Ariadne. That didn't make much sense to me, so I looked up this picture:



This, the sleeping Ariadne, was made in the 2nd century BCE, originally thought to be Cleopatra. Later, as it was being shuffled around, they re-identified it at Venus or a sleeping nymph. Then, they found that the snake in the sculpture was actually a serpentine bracelet, and due to other pictures found in gem carvings and sarcophagi, they identified it as Ariadne. I think this is the Ariadne who helped Jason out of the Labyrinth, but I'm not sure, because apparently there were two Ariadnes. I think it's safe to assume in this case, though.

They also quoted this piece of scripture: "But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet." Apparently this was the prophet Jesus said that everyone should trust for a sign (though in the Gospel, he gets mad at people for asking for a sign). This is Matthew 12:39.

- I FOUND A PICTURE OF FORTUNA!!! I WAS SO EXCITED!!!



You can see the globe/sphere that she's standing on, which represents instability and an ability to roll in any direction.

Other pictures!!! I'll see if I can add some captions to make this more interesting.




^ Yeah. That's my hand. On a FINGER.




^ IT'S A COPY OF La Verita!!! Remember, the sculpture I fangirled over yesterday? AND IT'S IN THE VATICAN. CONNECTIONS ALL AROUND!



Dr. Sebastian was particularly enamored with this pinecone-type thing we saw outside.





But then again, so was I. :P




New feathers! Wore them today.




And this statue. Brb dying.






Aboriginal exhibit! A British couple particularly enjoyed the pictures I was taking with the headdress and made me show them the pictures. :)












Contemporary art!!! I don't know why I got so excited over it. But I'm pretty sure you've seen pictures of the other things--the Sistine Chapel (which is not all the Adam and God thing--there's more on the ceiling, and it gets ridiculous to try and process, but yeah...a lot of people said that that was the way they perceived it before they went, so I guess I'm just clearing that up), the School of Athens, all that good stuff. But this stuff is good. Or some of it is. Sometimes you just get guys obsessed with painting the Vatican while it's raining.





And lunchtime!







I think those two groups of people were being taught how to eat by the tour guide. We made lots of jokes, most of which were by Sister Terri (who I will for now on refer to as TerTer because I love her that much).

BECAUSE SHE DREW ME A PICTURE OF JESUS AND SIGNED IT.



Antonia and I always get very excited when we find St. Sebastian (well, when she finds St. Sebastian--she's much better at finding him than I am...I bet she's better at Where's Waldo too). Because...you know, Dr. Sebastian is epic and yeah.



And then we saw more cool stuff.












LOOK IT'S ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA!



And here's a cast of the Pieta. It was nice, though, because I could get a closer picture.




The staircase Antonia and I affectionately named the WTF staircase, because it becomes a staircase...gradually? What I liked as I was going down was the fact that everyone visiting the museum: German, Italian, Spanish, American, Chinese, French COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING as we walked down. Because, like I said, it's the WTF staircase. :)



View from the little lookout deck in the museum.



"SO MANY HEADS. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY?" - Dr. Sebastian



^ PEACOCKS AND PICTURES OF SAINTS (namely Mary). JUNO AND MARY ARE CONNECTIONS. *MICHELLE RAU DANCE*



^ A picture of the temptation that's not, as Antonia says, "All RAWR."

I'll post the Faberge egg pictures later. There's way too many of them, and they would totally take over my pretty educational post here! :D