The Sistine Chapel, Renaissance jewel that overwhelms first -time cardinals

The Sistine Chapel has witnessed all papal elections since 1492, with only five exceptions, and prepares again to be the scenario of the conclave.

The 133 voters, gathered behind closed doors, will have the mission of choosing the successor of Pope Francis from Wednesday surrounded by the beauty of the frescoes of Miguel Ángel, Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandio.

Strategically located in the heart of the Vatican and protected by the Leonina wall, the Sistine Chapel was built on the old Cappella Magna. From its origin, it served not only as a place of liturgy but as a protected space so that the crucial decisions that have marked the millenary life of the Church have made.

Its symbolic closeness to the place of the martyrdom of San Pedro also reinforces the spiritual dimension of the choice that will be carried out in it.

The Sistine Chapel, which owes its name to Pope Sixtus IV, who ordered her to build between 1475 and 1483, emerged on Monday, April 28, the usual tourist transfer to adapt it to the strict regulations of the conclave and guarantee the necessary conditions of airtight insulation surrounding the voting of the cardinals.

A privileged place to experience the divine presence

The six centuries of tradition of celebrating here the papal choice were ratified by San Juan Pablo II, who stressed that the space contributes to the experience of the divine presence.

From Genesis to Apocalypse, Miguel Ángel’s master hand will guide the sloping present by the Holy Scriptures from the beginning of the world, to the final pages of history, in a vibrant catechesis through art that will remind them of the threat of sin and death, but also hope in eternal life.

When looking at the roof, the cardinals will feel on their heads the power of the Creation of Adamone of the most famous freshness of the Italian Renaissance genius.

Another witness of the historic election will be the Final judgment, which will preside over the conclave from the wall where the altar is. There the voting urn and the lectern will be placed with the Gospel on which the cardinals will make their solemn oath.

In this masterpiece, the figure of Christ is the universal judge of living and dead. Around them there are angels who awaken the dead with trumpets, skeletons that assume the new flesh as the resurrection of the dead, numerous saints and martyrs who populate the sky.

Below, Caronte, with his boat, makes the passage of death easier towards hell, showing his destiny to the convicted. And, at the top of all the fresco, well visible, the symbols of the passion of Christ: the column where they flagelled it, the dice with which their garments were distributed, the crown of thorns, and especially the cross, which underlines which way is the way to reach heaven.

Firstly cardinals are usually overwhelmed by the visual grandiosity that surrounds them. Painted by the greatest artists of the Renaissance, the works of the Sistine Chapel speak to the consciences, as Benedict XVI pointed out, who with Reason for the 500 years of Miguel Ángel’s vault in 2012, invited to interpret the works with the help of prayer in his speech.

“Praying in the Sistine Chapel, wrapped by the history of God’s path with man, admirably represented in the frescoes that are on us and surround us, is an invitation to praise, an invitation to raise God creator, redeemer and judge of living and dead, with all the saints of heaven, the words of the song of the apocalypse: ‘Amen!

In fact, the artists Miguel Ángel, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino did not work alone: ​​the iconographic themes were dictated by the most seasoned theologians of the Sixto IV and Julio II potatoes who commissioned their decoration.

Only in this way is the coherence between the frescoes of Genesis, the scenes of the life of Moses and Christ, and the Final Judgment Corona the apse.

With 40.23 meters long, 13.40 wide and more than 20 meters high, the space of the Sistine Chapel imposes an atmosphere of recollection. At the beginning of the conclave on Wednesday, the cardinals will enter the procession, singing the I came Creator. Each will take their place assigned after sweeping their commitment to secret.

The Pope is a martyr

But before all this, the cardinals will cross the Paulina chapel, in which the frescoes that represent the Crucifixion of San Pedro, painted by Miguel Ángel between 1546 and 1550.

Known as “Parva Chapel”, that is, “small” in contrast to its neighboring Sistine Chapel, this beautiful sacred space, inaccessible to the public, is reserved for the Pope and the exposure of the Blessed Sacrament.

The powerful image of San Pedro crucified head down, a symbol of his martyrdom, is first and foremost a visual reminder that the Pope is a martyr: a fundamental message for the cardinals to choose their successor.

Mozart also was moved by beauty

The Sistine Chapel has not only been the scene of papal elections, but also of great liturgical celebrations. According to tradition, in the middle of the 18th century, the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart traveled to Rome and was fascinated to hear the Mercy of Gregorio Allegri. This composition could only be interpreted here during Holy Week, since the score was jealously stored by the Vatican.

Currently, the Mass of the Epiphany is usually celebrated in the Sistine Chapel in which both Pope Francis and Benedict XVI have baptized some of the children of the Vatican employees.

Over the centuries, this overloaded beauty space has been restored several times. For example, between 1980 and 1999 an exhaustive cleaning was carried out to eliminate the dirt patina caused by dust, soot and wax accumulated over the centuries.

The Sistine Chapel continues to dazzle the millions of people who visit it every year. An aesthetic ecstasy that the cardinals will also live that, for the first time, will sit under their vault to discern the future of the Church.