Vatican
Museums
The founding of the Vatican Museums can be traced back
to 1503 when the newly – elected Pope, Julius II
Della Rovere, placed a statue of Apollo in the internal
courtyard of the Belvedere Palace built by Innocent VIII;
he brought the statue from the garden of his titular church
of st. Peter in Chains. In 1506 the Laocoon was added
to the collection, after its discovery on the Esquiline
Hill before the eyes of Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo
Buonarotti. Scores of artifacts were added throughout
the next two centuries and the collections were eventually
reorganized under Benedict XIV (1740-1758) and Clement
XIII (1758-1769). They founded the Apostolic Library Museums:
the Sacred (Museo Sacro – 1756) and the Profane
(Museo Profano – 1767) Museum.
The
Christian Museum, comprising finds from the catacombs
that could not be conserved in situ, was founded by Pius
IX 1854 in the Lateran Palace and was moved to the Vatican
Museums by Pope John XXIII. Pope Pius XI inaugurated in
1932 the definitive seat of the Vatican Picture Gallery
(the Pinacoteca), near the monumental entrance of the
Vatican Museums.
