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Before you enter the Sistine Chapel

Prepare three observations outside, then enter the chapel silently with your phone away.

Before you enter the Sistine Chapel

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Before entering the Sistine Chapel, remember three places to look. The side walls pair Moses and Christ. The ceiling carries Genesis scenes. The altar wall holds the later Last Judgement. You can keep those three layers in mind while your phone stays away inside.

The earlier walls

The fifteenth-century painters placed Moses's story on the south wall and Christ's on the north. Portraits of popes run above the scenes, with painted draperies below. Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli worked with assistants on this programme in 1481–1482.

The ceiling and altar wall

Michelangelo completed the ceiling in 1512. Nine Genesis scenes run along its centre, surrounded by prophets, sibyls and Christ's ancestors. His Last Judgement belongs to another commission, painted in 1536–1541. On the altar wall, figures gather around Christ, with the dead rising below. The two works come from different moments in his life and in the chapel's history.

Finish the explanation here

The museum provides explanatory panels in the Pinecone Courtyard and Square Garden. Read or listen before entering the chapel, then follow the signed approach and staff directions. Inside, absolute silence is required. Mobile-phone use, photography and filming are forbidden. Let the three observations guide your looking from memory.

Official visit information ↗

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Before you enter the Sistine Chapel · 1/1
Before you enter the Sistine Chapel · 1

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Your own selection. Follow the route instructions and on-site signs between stops; custom combinations have no verified transfer time.

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