Vatican Museum. November 2016.
Of managed expectations - almost
Without a doubt, the Vatican Museum is in the "top museums" I have ever visited anywhere. The experience was so overwhelming that it is difficult even after five years to focus enough to make some kind of gestalt comment. Maybe it's just not possible.
Rome in November is not weather friendly. Just like the visit to St Peter's, I awoke in the cold, morning darkness and repeated all the same steps arriving even earlier to queue up for the Vatican Museum. To be honest, other than "you must see the Vatican Museum if you visit Rome", I didn't know that much about it (except the Sistine Chapel was there somewhere). A crucial part of the experience for me was my limited expectations. High expectations so often ruin what would otherwise be a lovely travel experience.
I arrived about 30 minutes before opening. The weather was cold enough that any earlier would have been too uncomfortable of a wait. The queue was long, but shorter than the day I saw it wrap around the boundary wall extending to the entrance of St Peter's. This day it only stretched down the sidewalk half as much along a high, plain brick wall. Then came the assaults: the mostly Bangladeshi selfie-stick sellers and other guys (unclear from where) who had "group tickets for immediate entry". Not that there was anything to do except wait, but the presence of these touts was pestilential. Some people almost got into physical altercations with them. That, not understanding how long of a wait, and the fits and starts with which we progressed made for an unfortunate negative start to the day.
At the top of the queue was a small marble portico inscribed "Museo Vaticani", both simple and understated (and no longer used). It became clear they were letting individuals inside in waves alternating with groups arriving. After getting inside it made sense. How diminished the experience would have been to be crammed in the first few galleries with a crush of people all arriving at once. We were "trickling" inside. Finally, it was my turn and I walked down a long passageway to the entrance.
The new entrance to the museum is ultra modern and extremely organized. I quickly got my ticket and then walked up a spectacularly bare spiral staircase toward the museum proper. I understand - this was all about slowing down the flow of people. Additionally, why waste precious museum space on "crowd management"? That day was a cold day in November. What would July or August have been like during peak tourist season?? The white, blank staircase provided an astounding juxtaposition to what awaited at the top of the stairs. Delete all unnecessary data, empty cache, and prepare for sensory overload - warning: system may crash.
My bar none favorite museum in the world is the Louvre. It was a palace. It was built in sections with different architectural styles. It is massive. ( lots of art and artifacts, too). The Vatican Museum was the residence of the Popes in the days when they were much more than religious leaders. This place was the former palace of a line of wealthy kings like Europe has rarely seen. Tudors, Bourbons {See: Lago Fusaro), Hapsburgs, and let's not forget "popes". Every room was luxe to the max and that was not even considering the artwork displayed. I felt like I needed a bandana to tie my jaw up as I wandered.
In the post WWII age, first came the Americans, then the Japanese, and now the Chinese as "tourist groups from Hell" in Europe. I started traveling at the end of the American age and still recall the biting comments made to me (especially in Western Europe) for being a cultureless American. Then my early adulthood was filled with watching the lemming-like Japanese follow their flag-bearers around, taking photos of themselves and everything around them ad nauseum. Now we are in the age of the Chinese group tourist. My only direct experiences with them are "Take my photo" (no smile, no "please", but at least a "thank you") and that there are lots of them (I mean LOTS). The Vatican Museum was rapidly filling up with tour groups during my visit. It was a game of trying to enter a gallery as one group exited and before the next arrived just to have a little peace to absorb the flood of culture I was trying not to drown in.
Good friend, PM, and I were discussing the Vatican Museum and he recalled the overall sensory overload of museum hopping in Italy and how, over time, ones brain became numb to all the art. The Vatican Museum will do this in a day. I now appreciate the "spare" collections of lesser museums. How can someone process the art displayed in a room where the very walls are covered in frescoes by Rafael? I do love analogies, so I would say that the National Gallery in Washington, DC is like a good high end restaurant with a decent menu. The Vatican Museum is more like brunch at the Ritz Carlton in Singapore - a decadent, unlimited buffet of as much luxurious food (like seafood and prime rib) as one might encounter over a lifetime AND a free flow of Moet Chandon champagne. Eat and drink a lot, remember nothing.
Dazed and confused, practicing social distancing long before COVID, I made my way up the narrow stairs to the Sistine Chapel. I am not sure there is a time the Sistine Chapel is ever tranquil. "No photos!! Silence!!" This is enforced (ironically loudly) by the "Order of Proper Museum Decorum". I was underwhelmed. I should have just enjoyed the fathers scolding people as I usually do in such situations, but this was the SISTINE CHAPEL Reflecting back on managed expectations, I was failing miserably. The famous fresco is way up there. Opera glasses might have been helpful. Then the crush of people is all murmuring and being shushed with interjections of "no photo, no photo". I can safely say that as disappointing as I found the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, so I found the Sistine Chapel an equally "you are kidding me, right?" experience.
I meandered as the museum filled up. I was reaching overload quickly. The Vatican Museum is not as vast as the Louvre, but there is a lot packed in a smaller space. In an outdoor garden I escaped the crowds and looked up at the dome of St Peters. I wondered if the Pope ever wandered the museum at night admiring all that art. My brain was full. Where was that great sandwich place in Trastevere? All that culture made me hungry,