There's so much to see: Saint Peter's Basilica, the Stanze, the Sistine Chapel, and the Museums.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cathedra Petri (Chair of St. Peter)
Did Peter sit here? Dizzying but unified, light and gold glorify this sacred place.
Athanadoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros of Rhodes, Laocoön and his Sons
The writhing agony of the Trojan Laocoon made this Hellenistic masterpiece famous throughout history.
The Regolini-Galassi tomb and the Parade Fibula
The assemblage of objects in the Regolini-Galassi tomb represents a broad geographic range and an aesthetic that indicates the influence of the ancient Near East.
Codex Borgia
Thirty-three feet long, the Codex Borgia records historical, ritual, mythological, and botanical information.
Kente cloth
This cloth—first woven by a wise spider—sends social messages through a system of specific patterns.
Tomb of the Scipios and the sarcophagus of Scipio Barbatus
Even in death, great Roman families were concerned with reinforcing and projecting their status.
Raphael, School of Athens
Whose side are you on? Two great philosophers of antiquity, Plato and Aristotle, face off in this meeting of minds.
Lysippos, Apoxyomenos (Scraper)
Ancient Greek athletes cleaned themselves with oil. This sculpture shows one athlete’s bathing ritual.
Veristic male portrait
With age comes experience, and sculptors in the Roman Republic highlighted seniority—warts and all.
Exekias, Attic black figure amphora with Ajax and Achilles playing a game
Achilles and Ajax, heroes of the Trojan War, break from battle to play a friendly game that hints at a tragic future.
Michelangelo, Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel
As demons harvest new souls and angels wake the dead, Mary crouches, powerless beside Christ.
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