In 1498 after Christ, Michelangelo, only 22 years old, writes a contract, guaranteed by Jacopo Galli, with the French Cardinal of San Dionigi, for the realization, within a year, of a "Pietà" (pity) in marble destined to be placed in the Basilica of San Pietro. On a piece of marble personally chosen in the pits of Carrara, Michelangelo represents the isolated aspects of the Virgin Mary holding in her arms the body of the Christ right after it was taken down from the Crosse, according to an iconography that, during this period, had found a large consensus on the other side of the Alps. 1.74cm high, the "Pietà" of Michelangelo presents strong particularities in the anatomy and also in the finishes of the drapes, with translucent effects of accentuated by the way in which the light seemed to caress the marble superficies.
One of the things that most surprises on the sculpture is the aspect extremely young the artist wanted to give to the face of the Virgin Mary; this choice, strongly criticized by the contemporaneous, finds its justification in the abstract character of the composition.
In the intentions of the sculptor, the Madonna probably represents the entire humanity and as such, using the words of the "Divine Comedy" of Dante, she is the "Virgin Mother, daughter of your son". On the face of the Christ are absents the signs of the Passion, Michelangelo, in fact, does not desire the objective representation of the death but expresses his own religious vision in the abandoned and, anyway, serene face of the Son, as a testimony of the communion between man and God sanctified with the sacrifice of the Saver.
It is said that Michelangelo, not used to firm the own works, after he had casually heard some visitors from Lombardy say that the "Pietà" was the work of Gobbo di Milano, went to the Basilica of San Pietro on the night itself, and engraved on the work the writing: "Angelus Bonarotus Florentinus Faciebat".
The sculpture was placed in 1499 after Christ in the Chapel of Santa Petronilla in San Pietro, where it stays until 1517 after Christ when it is moved to the old Sacristy. Since 1749 after Christ the work is placed in its actual location and it has abandoned the Basilica of San Pietro only to be welcomed to the Universal Exhibition of New York from 1962 to 1964. Following the gesture of a silly person, who in 1972 damaged the work with numerous hammer beats, after the restoration it has been decided to protect the sculpture with a crystal wall.

Vatican Museum

The original core of the works of the Vatican Museums is formed of the collection of sculptures that were exhibited in the "Court of the Statues", nowadays called "Cortile Ottagono", on the desire of Giulio II Pope from 1503 to 1513 after Christ.

Clement XIV and Pio VI fitted out the first collections of the Pontificate Museums and Galleries, while Pio VII enriched the Epigraphic Collection and increased the rooms dedicated to the Classical Antiquities, adding the "Chiaramonti Museum" with the rooms of the Hall, of the Lapidaria Gallery and of the "Braccio Nuovo" (New Arm) where are hosted a series of statues, busts, sarcophagus and figures in relief with more than 5000 pagan and Christian inscriptions, and some of the most famous works of the Antiquity such as the statue of "Augusto di Prima Porta", the colossal statue of the Nile and the "Doriforo".
Gregorio XVI founded the Etruscan Museum and the Egyptian Museum, to collect the works coming from the excavations and explorations made in Etruria and in Egypt.
The actual organisation of the Vatican Museums is due to the wish of Pio IX and Pio X, who added respectively the Christian Museum and the Hebraic Lapidary formed with the inscriptions and sculptures coming from the Hebraic and Christian cemeteries of Rome. Are also part of the rooms of the Vatican Museums:

Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel, wanted by Pope Sisto IV della Rovere, from which it takes its name, was built by Giovannino de'Dolci between 1475 and 1481 after Christ.

The decoration in the style of 1400 of the walls, realized by an extraordinary group of painters made of Perugino, Botticelli, Signorelli and Ghirlandaio, includes the artificial draperies, the "Stories of Moses and Christ" and the portraits of the Pontiffs while Pier Matteo d'Amelia painted for the inauguration on the vault a starlight sky.
The realization of the frescoes in Sistine Chapel, at least for the one that constituted the initial composition, was taken to its end in 1482 after Christ when were also completed the marble works relatives to the grating, to the choir-stalls, and to the pontifical emblem located above the entrance door. The chapel was consecrated to the cult of the Lady of the Assumption on August 15th 1483 after Christ by Pope Sisto IV but already his nephew, Pope Giulio II della Rovere, only 25 years old, decided to modify the decorations later on, charging Michelangelo Buonarroti of this work.
The contract undertaken on May 8th 1508 after Christ was contemplating the realization of the portraits of the twelve apostles in the crests of the vault, surrounded by ornamental decorations, but soon the Pontiff saw himself constrained to surrender to the requests of the artist who was claiming for a greater liberty of composition.
Michelangelo painted new episodes extracted from the book of the Genesis organized inside an artificial architecture in thematic groups of three.

When the painting process of the Sistine Chapel was completed, Michelangelo represented along the sides of the vaults figures of sibyls and prophets seating on the throne, in the sails, those who presumably have to be retained as the ancestors of Christ, and in the four angular crests, some episodes of the salvation of the people of Israel.
The most important work of Michelangelo was completed in 1512 after Christ, and on November 1st Giulio II inaugurated a second time the Sistine Chapel with a solemn mass.
Towards the end of 1533 after Christ Clemente VII De'Medici charged Michelangelo to modify again the decoration of the Sistine Chapel by painting on the wall of the altar, at the place of some frescoes of Perugino, the Universal Judgment. In the second half of the 16th century, the frescoes of the entrance wall were restored, seriously damaged by the collapse of the door in 1522 after Christ: Hendrik van den Broeck painted again the "Resurrection of Christ", while Matteo da Lecce painted the "Dispute on the body of Moses". The frescoes of the chapel have sustained a complete restoration between 1979 and 1999 after Christ, recovering the splendour of the colours and the integrity of the original painting tissue.