Raphael's Rooms in the Vatican Museums

The Raphael Rooms in the Vatican Museums, also known as the "Vatican Rooms", were the apartments of Pope Julius II (1503-1513), who, not wanting to live in the rooms used by his predecessor Alexander VI and already frescoed by Pinturicchio, had moved upstairs, in the wing built by Niccolò V in the mid-fifteenth century.

Here, artists who were then far more successful than him, such as Perugino, his teacher, had already worked, but Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520), left free by Pope Julius II to carry out the frescoes as he pleased, canceled what had been done. in the following chronological order: Stanza della Segnatura 1508-1511, Stanza di Eliodoro 1511-1514, Stanza dell'Incendio di Borgo 1514-1517, Sala di Costantino 1517-1524.

In the exhibition, the order of the visit will be taken into account with an obligatory path.

The Constantine Room was largely built by Raphael's students, as the master died suddenly on April 6, 1520.

From west to east there are a series of rectangular rooms, which took their name from the frescoes located. This is how the Fire Room, the Segnatura Room, the Heliodorus Room and the Constantine Room meet (in the tourist visit you usually do the reverse route, passing through a sixteenth-century balcony on the Cortile del Belvedere). The first three are covered by a cross vault and measure approximately 7 by 8 meters; the fourth 10x16. These are the rooms affected by Raphael's frescoes.

To this complex are added the Sala dei Chiaroscuri or dei Palafrenieri, already frescoed on drawings by Raphael in 1517 (destroyed under Paul IV and replaced by others ordered by Gregory XIII in 1582), the Niccolina chapel (private chapel of the pope, frescoed by Beato Angelico at the time of Niccolò V), the Loggia on the courtyard of San Damaso, the Loggetta and the cubiculum, that is the Pope's bedroom. Of these rooms, the Raphaelesque Rooms, an obligatory passage in the path that leads to the Sistine Chapel, and the Niccolina can now be visited, while the other rooms, smaller in size and more difficult to monitor, are accessible only to scholars.

In May 2017, a new lighting project was made for the Vatican Museums developed by the German company Osram, in collaboration with the University of Pannonia.

Days and opening hours
From Monday to Saturday
9.00am - 6.00pm (last admission 4.00pm)

Every last Sunday of the month
9.00am - 2.00pm (last admission 12.30pm)

Map: Raphael's Rooms in the Vatican Museums

vCard Info:

Address: Viale Vaticano, 00165 - Stato del Vaticano
Roma (RM) Lazio
Latitude: 41.9064878
Longitude: 12.4536413
Site: https://www.vaticanstate.va/it...

vCard created by: CHO.earth
Currently owned by: CHO.earth

Type: Palace
Function: Museum
Creation date: 29-10-2019 08:37
Last update: 06/07/2022