Sistine Chapel history shows that while this is one of the most well know works of Michelangelo, it also cost the artist his eyesight. When Michelangelo was chosen to create the fresco painings he did so unwillingly initially, and was not happy to be called away from his work on the tomb for the pope. It took Michelangelo more than four years to paint the ceiling and he spent much of this time bent backwards painting on top of the scaffolding. Speical scaffolding was used so that mass would still be possible, and the scaffolding started higher up the wall that usual because of this, Due to the extraordinary talents of Michelangelo, the Sistine Chapel has become one of the most famous art displays in the western world.
The interior of the chapel is gorgeous and attracts millions of visitors each year, On the inside, the chapel is divided into two by a transenna, and a fence made from marble. The part facing the altar is only accessible to priests. Each of the two long walls has six large arched windows. The walls are covered by three virtual rings with decorations. The exterior of the building and the architecture is nothing special, and is quite plain when many churches and other historic structures are considered. The chapel has a rectangular shape. It has a barrel-shaped roof, topping 20 meters. The paintings include nine frescos on the ceiling, and these frescoes show nine scenes from the book of Genesis in the Bible. The paintings on the walls and on the ceiling are widely considered to be the peak of Renaissance art. Out of all the things to do in Rome, and everything that the city offers, the Sistine Chapel is one of the top attractions for visitors all around the world.
The Sistine Chapel Choir is a choir based in the Vatican City and is one of the oldest religious choirs in the world. At the present time, the choir comprises approximately twenty adults singers and thirty unpaid boy choristers. When the Gregorian melodies were still the sole music of the church, it was the papal choir that set the standard for the rest of Christendom, both in regard to the purity of the melodies and their rendition. After these melodies had blossomed into polyphony, it was the Sistine Chapel that it received adequate interpretation. Here the artistic degeneration, which church music suffered in different periods in many countries, never took hold for any length of time. The use of instruments, even of the organ has ever been excluded, The choir's ideal has always been purely vocal style.
The chapel has been recently restored (1981 through 1994). The newly-revealed bright colors reveal Michelangelo to have been a masterful colorist, and close-ups of the frescoes show complex brushwork that would not be matched, or even attempted, until the Impressionist movement of the nineteenth century. Now that the electric lighting has been removed and the frescoes illuminated solely by the light from the windows, the original colors and effect have been restored.
One of the most popular tourist destinations in Rome-Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel receives some 1600 people every hour during the summer. Visitors are encouraged to bring along binoculars, and patience, to view the 10,000 square feet of ceiling painted by Michelangelo, amidst the crowds. No photography is permitted in the chapel.
Very good! 90%
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