Capela sistina pintura teto

The Sistine Chapel is a structure belonging to the “Vatican Apostolic Palace”, a building of over 1,000 rooms which also includes the Vatican Museums and the papal apartment.

Although this building is one of the 18 apostolic palaces (also papal palaces or pontifical palaces) found in Italy, mainly in Rome, today with this name only reference is made to the “apostolic palace at the Vatican”.

History

Pre-existence: the Magna Chapel

The Sistine Chapel was born from the remains of the Magna Chapel (also Domini Pape Chapel), one of the three structures mentioned by Giannozzo Manetti in the biography of Pope Nicholas V in 1455, located in a Vatican garden called “paradise”.

The structure of the Magna Chapel was composed of self-supporting walls made of oblong bricks that developed on three levels.