vatican city

thursday's art class took us to vatican city, which is a small nation of 800 citizens.

history: originally uninhabited, the circus of nero began in 40 ad. the obelisk located in the center was taken from egypt to decorate the circus. after the great fire of rome in 64 ad, it became a martyrdom site of christians. ancient tradition says this is where st. peter was crucified upside-down. the first church was built in 326, called the constantine basilica (old st. peters), and took over 1000 years of building. in the mid 1400s, pop nicholas the fifth commissioned the "current" st. peters. bramante, the architect known as "the ruiner" tore down the old st. peters. many people worked on the architecture, including rafael, peruzzi,  michelangelo (who was responsible for the dome), and maderno. bernini completed the square in 1650. it wasn't until the 1930s that mussolini determined the boundaries.

st. peter's basilica

work by michelangelo showing an image of the virgin mary carrying an adult jesus

paintings like this were everywhere

sistine chapel - michelangelo worked on this for 4 years straight and began with no painting experience

this past weekend was fun-filled with homework for 3 days straight since we have parts of 5 projects due this week. on friday im headed to venice with my grandma!!! im so excited to have family visit.