The Vatican

POP QUIZ:
Without looking at the title of this post, what structure was built 68 years BEFORE the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?

You looked, didn't you?
No worries.

The Vatican is the answer, and it is Number 85 on my Bucket List. It started out as a monument built around the grave of St. Peter, who was buried in a pagan cemetery. What was that all about? Anyway, over that monument, a small chapel was built to house and protect his grave, then a bigger chapel was built over that. Then a wing was added, then another, and another and so on, and so on until it covered 44 acres and became its own Sovereign State with its own police department and ruling hierarchy! (The Pope)

It includes several museums and galleries famous for their tapestries, ceramics, sculptures and paintings. My husband Sarge really thought he was doing something when he created a mosaic of a palm tree in our back yard, but the Vatican takes mosaic-ism to a whole other level. (If that wasn't a word, it is now.) Their mosaics look more like paintings than tiny inlaid pieces of colored tile. Ahh, the magnificence of mosaic-osity. (See parenthetical above)

Of course, the Pople makes his home at the Vatican, but he was not in residence the day we stood in line an hour and a half to get inside. And don't forget about St. Peter's Basilica. Oh! and the Sistine Chapel is exceptionally sublime. (Click here for my post on the Sixteen Chapels, as Sarge likes to call it.)

A Vatican Mosaic














Sarge's Mosaic