Sistine Chapel
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The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Vatican Palace, the place where the Pope lives. It was built between 1473 and 1781 by Giovanni dei Dolci for Pope Sixtus IV. It is famous for its Renaissance frescoes(paintings) by Michelangelo.
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[edit] Decoratation
The Sistine Chapel is a brick building shaped like a rectangle. It has six arched windows on its two side walls and a curved or barrel-vaulted ceiling. The chapel's outside walls are brown and not decorated, but there are many frescos on painted on the inside walls and ceiling. The frescos on the side walls were made between 1481 and 1483 and they show events that happened in the Bible.
[edit] North and South Wall
The six frescos on the north wall are of things that happened during the life of Jesus Christ, while the six frescos on the south wall are things that happened during the life of Moses. They were painted by Perugino, Pinturicchio, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico and Benedetto Ghirlandajo, Cosimo Rosselli, Luca Signorelli, and Bartolomeo della Gatta.
[edit] Ceiling and West Wall
The frescos on the ceiling and west wall are painted by Michelangelo. The frescos on the ceiling are known as the Sistine Ceiling. Michelangelo was asked to paint these frescos by Pope Julius II in 1508, and it took him until 1512 to finish. The fresco are of people and events that happened in the Old Testament. Contrary to popular belief, Michelangelo painted the ceiling while standing on scaffolding, with his arms painfully raised above his head, and not by lying on his back. The Last Judgement fresco in the west wall was painted by Michelangelo for Pope Paul III between 1534 to 1541.
[edit] Current Use
The Sistine Chapel is the Pope's own chapel. It is therefore used for important papal ceremonies, and the Sacred College of Cardinals when they elect a new pope.
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