Egyptian Treasures of the Vatican Museums (2024)

FAQs

Why is there Egyptian stuff in the Vatican museum? ›

Pope Gregory was driven by a passion for learning. He ordered that all Egyptian and “Egyptianized” artifacts in the Pontifical states (and Roman antique markets, private villa collections etc.) be gathered together in a new museum. The expert behind the museum's formation was Barnabite Father Giuseppe Ungarelli.

Valued by some as high as €2 billion, Nero's bathtub is one of the most precious works in the Vatican Museums. Stretching a whopping 25ft in diameter, it's made of a deep red/purple porphyry marble. This stone was quarried from a single source in Egypt and no other deposits of it have ever been found.

Among the 200-plus priceless artifacts – many never exhibited before – are papal jewels; bone fragments belonging to Saint Peter and Saint Paul; personal effects of Pope John Paul II; and swords, armor, and uniforms of the papal Swiss Guard.

Egypt rightly has the largest collection of ancient local artifacts located in its museums. The museum of Cairo houses the most.

In choosing ancient Egyptian monuments as the new symbols to embody the triumph of the reformed Catholic Church, Sixtus gave Christian meaning to these colossal stones by linking them to Apostles and Christian relics, and he thus created a Christian lineage for the obelisks that assured their permanent place in Rome's ...

In the 1st century B.C., Ancient Rome discovers the charm of the Egyptian culture, as a result of the conquest of Egypt by Julius Caesar and Augustus. Since then, traces of Egyptian civilization appear more and more in the city. We might think of obelisks, but they are not the only Egyptian traces in town.

We also know that the Vatican Bank, a financial institution that operates a lot like other banks, maintains reserves of gold worth about $20 million to secure its investments. Gold constitutes only a portion of the Catholic Church's wealth worldwide.

Ten to fifteen BILLION dollars is the best estimate. on the art owned by the Vatican. There are over 20 000 pieces displayed.

When you think of the priceless treasures at the Vatican Museum you probably think of the artwork: Michelangelo's Last Judgment and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; the Pieta in Saint Peter's; the ancient and renaissance artwork in the Museums; or even the priceless manuscripts and precious coins hidden away in the ...

The Vatican Necropolis lies under the Vatican City, at depths varying between 5–12 metres below Saint Peter's Basilica. The Vatican sponsored archaeological excavations (also known by their Italian name scavi) under Saint Peter's in the years 1940–1949 which revealed parts of a necropolis dating to Imperial times.

What is the secret vault in the Vatican? ›

With 85 kilometers (53 miles) of shelving, much of it underground in a two-story, fireproof, reinforced concrete bunker, the archive also houses documentation from Vatican embassies around the globe as well as specific collections from aristocratic families and religious orders.

The Vatican Museums and St Peter's Basilica are not only an absolute must for visitors of any faith and provenance, but also offer to Jewish visitors very specific reasons of enormous interest and surprise.

One of the smallest and rarest artifacts of ancient Egypt, the small 7.5 (3 inches) statue ivory of King Khufu (Cheops) is the only portrait discovered of him.

The contention over the original stone copy stems from its unrivaled significance to Egyptology. Carved in the 2nd century B.C., the slab contains three translations of a decree relating to a settlement between the then-ruling Ptolemies and a sect of Egyptian priests.

While there are indeed a number of laws governing the sale and purchase of items of cultural patrimony (antiquities), as long as an item has been legally imported into the United States, it's legal to sell and purchase.

Between 1903 and 1937, the archaeological excavations conducted in Egypt by Ernesto Schiaparelli and then by Giulio Farina brought some 30,000 artefacts to Turin. The Museum underwent a first reorganisation of the rooms in 1908, and a second, more important one, in 1924, with the official visit by the king.

The Rosetta Stone has been exhibited in the British Museum since 1802, with only one break. Towards the end of the First World War, in 1917, when the Museum was concerned about heavy bombing in London, they moved it to safety along with other, portable, 'important' objects.

In his eagerness to spread knowledge of this ancient civilisation among his contemporaries, Champollion helped create the Egyptian museum in Turin, then convinced Charles X to purchase an Egyptian collection for the Louvre.

The mummy of Amenirdis is displayed in what would have been its original painted wood sarcophagus, whose lid is also conserved.