Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums form one of the world's great museum complexes, occupying a series of palatial buildings within Vatican City that were accumulated by successive popes over more than five centuries. The collections trace a continuous line from ancient Egyptian and Etruscan artefacts through classical Graeco-Roman sculpture, including the celebrated Laocoön group and the Apollo Belvedere, to the Renaissance masterworks that define the institution's global reputation. Raphael decorated the Stanze di Raffaello for Pope Julius II, and the route through the museums culminates in the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes and his monumental Last Judgement on the altar wall remain among the most studied paintings in existence.

The museums draw millions of visitors each year, making advance access arrangements a practical necessity for most travellers. Current experiences available through this page include skip-the-line tickets, a guided tour of the museums and Sistine Chapel, and a fast-track entry option, each offering a different way to move through a complex whose galleries, map rooms, and sculpture courts reward as much time as a visitor can give them.