The Vatican Museum, with its adjacent Sistine Chapel, is perhaps the richest collection of Western art anywhere.

Over the centuries the popes have amassed enough art to fill miles of museum hallways sumptuously decorated with precious tapestries, dramatic frescoes, and ancient statues. The museum features art from every age. Its exquisite painting gallery includes Raphael’s much-loved Transfiguration.

Halls and courtyards are littered with ancient Greek and Roman masterpieces — like the Laocoön…so inspirational to the great masters of the Renaissance. And the pope’s apartments tell Christian history — this is that battle in which Emperor Constantine was led by angels and a holy cross both to a key military victory and to his own religious conversion.

And these rooms celebrate pre-Christian philosophy. Here Raphael paints The School of Athens…a who’s who of ancient Greek intellectual heroes…many painted with the features of Renaissance greats: Leonardo, Michelangelo, and even the painter himself.

While Raphael worked in the pope’s apartments, Michelangelo was busy painting his chapel…the Sistine chapel. He depicted no less than the entire history of the Christian world, from the Creation…to Adam and Eve…and, much later, to the grand Biblical finale, the awe-inspiring Last Judgment. Michelangelo painted God busy creating from every conceivable angle. And the centerpiece: the central act of creation…God passing the divine spark of life to his greatest masterpiece — you and me.

Of course, there’s much more as we’ve just scratched the surface of this vast collection. If you’re pondering eternity, try covering the Vatican Museum thoroughly.