Posted by Martin Orr on
Monday, 14 August 2006 at 11:58
Rome is huge - everything always takes longer to walk than you expect. There are so many things to see that even without that there would have been lots I wanted to see but didn't have time to. Fortunately I did have three full days which was probably the minimum time worth anything. The things to see are also very varied, with lots of ancient ruins as well as many more recent things (indeed most Roman churches seem to be a couple of hundred years newer than those in the north of Italy).
The queue for the Vatican Museums two or three times longer than the one in Florence but it moved much faster and only took 45 minutes. These museums are huge and have lots worth seeing (the most famous being the Sistine Chapel, but I preferred the Raphael Rooms) but they close early on Saturdays and I only got 2.5 hours inside - I could have spent much longer.
Centuries of Christians have quite a lot to answer for in their treatment of their Roman ruins - many have been turned into churches or had statues stuck on top of them. I suppose this does at least preserve the buildings; many other ancient buildings had their stones removed to build things like St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
Now in: Belfast
--
Martin
Tags
art, holiday, italy
Posted by Martin Orr on
Thursday, 10 August 2006 at 16:42
One thing that struck me about Florence was how old the city centre is - all the modern shops are in good, solid stone buildings from the 15th century. It is claimed that the Renaissance began with the competition the city held in 1401 to select the artist to decorate the doors of the Baptistry; today you can't see the doors very closely due to the number of other tourists in front.
The Uffizi, the main art gallery, is also packed with tourists; I queued for two hours to get in. On the other hand the Bargello, the sculpture museum, had no queue at all and some equally interesting works of art, including two of the entries for the baptistry doors competition (for which you had to submit a bronze panel showing Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac).
Now in: Rome
--
Martin
Tags
art, holiday, italy
Posted by Martin Orr on
Monday, 07 August 2006 at 08:33
Apologies for the double post, but I will build up quite a backlog if I don't.
During the fourth century, the centre of the Roman empire moved east to Byzantium and Rome itself was sacked by the Visigoths in 410. After this the capital of the Western Roman Empire was moved to Ravenna, and for a few hundred years it was about the only city in western Europe not to be overrun by barbarian tribes. So it has a large number of fine fifth and sixth century churhces, which have somehow survived.
The buildings are all in reddish-brown brick, and they seem to have liked octagons. But what makes them really special are the mosaics of Biblical scenes and saints which decorate the walls and ceilings. These are wonderfully colourful, in blue and green and gold tiles. The Basilica San Vitale is particularly splendid - and still in regular use as a church.
--
Martin
Tags
art, churches, holiday, italy