Today, we journeyed across the city to the Vatican. Like so many of Rome’s other gems, the towering classical architecture of the Piazza San Pietro stood out of place from the surrounding earthy colors of the city. Entering through the grand doors of the Basilica, we reached the interior of the dome. The space within was the largest I’ve ever seen, and it was filled with priceless art from the Renaissance masters themselves. The staggering combination of artistic detail and quantity was deeply moving, and the Latin inscriptions above it all solidified the timeless power of the place. We went on to climb to the top of the dome, from which we had a great view of the city outside. We then proceeded through the apartments of past Popes and the Sistine Chapel, both of which contained an incredible volume of timeless art. Martial once wrote of the Palace of Domitian that “it made one’s eyes tired to look at”, and this structure allowed me to understand the feeling. Reflecting Martial’s sentiment, I found that the sheer immensity of the Vatican’s art made it difficult to focus directly on any individual work and made me interested to know who could be worthy of the worship of the gods that painted and molded it. As we have seen over the course of the past week, time has obstructed our view of the past and of the power once held here. The lofty domes and eternal marble of the Vatican allowed us to peek at the world we lost and at the awesome power of detail, history, and collective effort.
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