Courtyard of the Pinecone

Find the bronze pinecone that gives the courtyard its name. Its form belonged to a fountain in front of the old St Peter’s Basilica, where pilgrims could wash. The object has moved from the approach to a church into the museum complex. Bronze peacocks were associated with that earlier fountain. The originals are now preserved in the New Wing. Their move is part of a history in which ancient objects were reused, admired and later brought into collections. A familiar courtyard name can preserve one chapter without telling you all the places an object has been. The Courtyard of the Pinecone is also one of the museum’s places to pause. It belongs to the admitted visit. Take a moment to look across the space before returning to a collection. The sculpture galleries and the former papal buildings around this area grew at different times, as successive popes altered how their collections were seen.