Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The collection is organized into twelve museums, each displayed in beautiful surroundings. Unhelpfully the popes have assembled probably the world's best sculpture collection, but have "improved" on the originals by putting plaster leaves over the statues' genitalia. It's quite a sensory overload, since the rooms housing the collections are usually painted by world famous painters themselves. This includes, of course, the aforementioned Sistine Chapel, pictured here in very unfamiliar circumstances, i.e. empty. The chapel is where the cardinals meet and elect the new pope, and is considered a very sacred room. If you listen carefully you can just about hear the guards yelling at everyone to shut up and obey the "Silence!" signs posted all over the place, although usually they are drowned out by the droning monologue of the tour guides.




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