Fontana created a huge wooden machine to move the obelisk. At the top it had a sphere that was always believed to contain the ashes of Julius Caesar. Pope Sixtus V removed it and stepped on in its place a bronze cross of Christ seated on a star. Later, in 1817, marble disks were placed on the floor of the square, forming the compass rose, and thus the shadow cast by the obelisk turns it into a sundial. The shadow cast by the obelisk symbolizes the movement of the sun that indicates the signs of the zodiac at noon, and the two solstices, the winter and the summer solstices, are observed on the two discs on the sides.
St. Peter’s Basilica is the seat of the Christian world and the most important church in the world for Catholics.
Congregations from all over the Christian world travel to the Vatican, just to see and feel their faith. You will see flags of all countries. And for those of us who are atheists, Thomas says, we see the churches as a museum and a work of architectural art, from the time of Emperor Constantine in the 5th century. The dome of the Basilica is an impressive work of Michelangelo, if.
To understand the maneuver behind this robbery, they arrive at the Vatican, embezzlement to the Ambrosian bank perpetuated by an unscrupulous administrator, Cardinal Botticelli is behind, the plan to steal the death mask and sell it on the black market in Southeast Asia or in the Arab world that would pay fortunes for it. And thus recover the money lost in the stock market and other unprofitable investments.
Intelligence discovers the unusual interest of a Catholic Cardinal in Arab soil, only united by the country’s very strong Orthodox cult, the Coptic churches.
The cardinal had reached the suburbs of the Coptic neighborhood of Cairo and had met with a representative of the local cult.
That is the information that intelligence has on migration data regarding the unusual entrances to the country of Botticelli Carlos, a man in his 60s, with a thin build, blond hair and blue eyes.
But they do not know where to find Cardinal Botticelli, after passing through the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Saint John of Letran and Saint Paul Outside the Walls, and in that of Saint Peter, a bishop tells them that they can find him in the Vatican Museum.
Lein is anxious because he is fascinated by the Sistine Chapel, without making the long queues to enter that tourists do, Bishop Rafael Marchesati enters him without problems through the Vatican Gardens, which are very beautiful and while he walks he tells them that they have been of use exclusive to the Popes, for their rest and meditation, and which can now only be visited with a guide. During the visits you can see various medieval fortifications, buildings and monuments dating back to the 9th century, fountains, sculptures and artificial grottoes, delighting the eye with more than 2000 years old.
The bishop mentions to him that the Museum of the Treasure of the Basilica San Pedro is acceded from the interior of the same. And the Grottoes and Tombs of the Popes where several of them are buried, are found Under the basement of the Basilica, to enter them there is a staircase near the main altar or a side entrance near the statue of Saint Andrew.
Anne asks about the Necropolis, to which Bishop Raphael tells her that it is one of the most difficult places to visit in Rome, although it can be done with a very small group and with a reservation well in advance. When Nero burned Rome in 64, he executed many Christians, they died and Saint Peter was among them, and they were buried in Via Cornelia and in 319 the Emperor Constantine ordered the building of the basilica in this place. That basilica was the base of the present Basilica of San Pedro. The Tomb of San Pedro is one level below and descends to 11 meters. In the Necropolis there are 22 mausoleums and just below the current papal altar, is the tomb of the Apostle Saint Peter, in a small square, marked with the letter P.
In the Vatican Museums there are a lot of treasures, says Thomas and making a selection of the most important works of art is not an easy task. Since they are the sum of thousands of works of art collected by the Roman Catholic Church for more than five centuries.
The base of the Vatican Museums is produced in the year 1503, when Pope Julius II donated his collection of classical statues to adorn the Courtyard of the Belvedere Palace that later joined the Palace of the Popes, wealthy Italian families were increasing the collection during other papacies and in 1774 Pope Clement XIV and later Pope Pius IV, created the Museo Pio- Clementino, to house the collection of classical sculpture, when the Vatican Museum proper was born.
In the Vatican Museums there are collections of ancient art (Egyptian, Greek, Roman ...), collections of great artists such as Michelangelo or Raphael. Historical documents and objects, contemporary art collections, pontifical buildings and gardens.
We can divide the Vatican Museums into museums and into pontifical chapels or apartments, in which the Sistine Chapel stands out.
Finally Bishop Rafael Marchesati arrives at the door of the Museum, gives them a map and leaves. They all look at each other and begin the search for Cardinal Botticelli, who he told them would be in the Gregorian Egyptian Museum.
After going up the access ramp to the Museum they go to the Egyptian Gregorian.
Jamil grabs the map and easily finds himself on the spot.
Upon arrival, the Gregorian Egyptian Museum is at the beginning of the route and consists of 9 rooms (the last 3 are dedicated to the Middle East) and the Exit to the Patio de la Piña. It is dedicated to the monuments that came from Egypt to Rome, to decorate palaces, sanctuaries and buildings.
They stand out:
- The statue of Osiris-Antinous.
- Among the granite statues Queen Tuia, mother of Ramses II.
- The sarcophagus of Queen Heteferes.
- Mask of a mummy.
- Torso of Pharaoh Nectanebo I (380 to 362 BC)
- The Patio de la Piña, with the huge 4-meter bronze pineapple, from the 1st century that was found in the Baths of Agrippa, and the central sphere that represents the planet earth.
Everyone is stunned by the facades of this part of the three-story museum.
There is the Cardinal, whom they politely greet and introduce themselves, the Cardinal responds the greeting although a little distrust in his eyes, he does not understand why they are there. Or if and with suspicion in his eyes he stares at them.
Jamil Fahmi informs him that he knows of his interest in Egyptian art and his recent visits to Cairo. To which the Cardinal, dressed in his characteristic costume, tells of his relationship with the Coptic churches in Egypt.
After exchanging words he invites them to continue touring the other parts of the museum and offers himself as a guide while they talk.
He tells him that the name of the Gregorian Egyptian Museum is due precisely to Pope Gregory XVI, who in 1839 decided to convert into rooms a series of rooms in the retirement apartment of Pius IV, located in the Palace of the Belvedere of Innocent VIII.
And that Father Luiggi Maria Ungarelli (1779-1845), who was an eminent Egyptologist, a disciple of Rossellini and a pioneer of Egyptology, Italian Egyptology, who used different decorative and architectural elements with exotic inspiration that were reminiscent of the Nile, and drew on many Egyptian antiquities that were already in Rome.
These give the collection a peculiar character and are possibly the most emblematic works it houses, drawing attention for its aesthetic fusion between Roman and Egyptian traditions. They are in fact pieces that decorated the city of the emperors and the Villa Adriana in Tripoli.
Also noteworthy are a collection of ushabti (something that interests Thomas and almost for the only reason that I agree to come to the Vatican), reliefs and stelae.
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