Within the walls of the world's smallest country lies one of its greatest treasure houses. The Vatican Museums hold the immense art collection amassed by the popes over five hundred years — a labyrinth of galleries that culminates in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and ranks among the largest and most visited museum complexes on earth.
To walk them is to travel through the history of Western art itself, from Egyptian mummies and Roman marbles to Renaissance masterpieces and modern religious works, all gathered in the service of the Catholic Church in Vatican City.
