The Gallery of Maps ( Italian: ''Galleria delle carte geografiche'') is a gallery located on the west side of the Belvedere Courtyard in the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

containing a series of painted topographical maps of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

based on drawings by friar and geographer Ignazio Danti. The gallery was commissioned in 1580 by

Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII (, , born Ugo Boncompagni; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake ...

as part of other artistic works commissioned by the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

to decorate the

. It took Danti three years (1580–1583) to complete the 40 panels of the 120 m long gallery.

Design

The panels map the entirety of the Italian peninsula in large-scale

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es, each depicting a region as well as a perspective view of its most prominent city. It is said that these maps are approximately 80% accurate. With the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...

as a partition, one side depicts the regions surrounded by the Ligurian and

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...

s and the other depicts the regions surrounded by the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

. After the series of regional maps, there are two general geographical maps: *Ancient Italy (with the inscription “Commendatur Italia locorum salubritate, coeli temperie, soli ubertate”) *Modern Italy (with the inscription “Italia artium studiorumque plena semper est habita”). At the beginning and at the end of the gallery: *General view of the four major Italian ports of the sixteenth century:

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

and

Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (, meaning "ancient town") is a city and major Port, sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea west-northwest of Rome. Its legal status is a ''comune'' (municipality) of Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Rome, Lazio. The harbour is formed by ...

Other decorations

The decorations on the vaulted ceiling are the work of a group of

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

artists including

Cesare Nebbia Cesare Nebbia (c.1536–c.1614) was an Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Orvieto. Biography Nebbia was born in Orvieto. He trained with Girolamo Muziano, with whom he helped complete a flurry of decoration that was added to the Cathe ...

and Girolamo Muziano. The gallery once displayed the so-called Azuchi Screens, who were gifted by the Japanese shogun

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

to Pope Gregory XIII in 1585.

Gallery

File:Galleria delle carte geografiche (Vatican Museums) September 2015-1a.jpg, Coat of arms of

and

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

File:0 Italie - Corse - Sardaigne - Galleria delle carte geografiche.JPG, Map of

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

– The Gallery of Maps –

Vatican Museums The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

. File:Galleria delle carte Geografiche - Musei Vaticani - particolare della veduta di Ancona.JPG, View of

File:Saint Paul viper Malta ceiling carte geografiche Vatican 8.jpg, Saint Paul being bitten by a viper File:Ignazio Danti, Assedio di Malta, Galleria delle carte geografiche, Musei Vaticani.jpg, Siege of Malta File:Coat of Arms pope Paulus V Vatican 7.jpg, Coat of Arms of

Pope Paul V Pope Paul V (; ) (17 September 1552 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a mem ...

File:Pedemontium et Monsferratus (Piemonte e Monferrato) - Galleria delle carte geografiche - Musei vaticani - Roma (ph Luca Giarelli).jpg, Map of

Montferrat Montferrat ( , ; ; , ; ) is a historical region of Piedmont, in northern Italy. It comprises roughly (and its extent has varied over time) the modern provinces of Province of Alessandria, Alessandria and Province of Asti, Asti. Montferrat ...

File:Calabria citerior - Galleria delle carte geografiche - Musei vaticani - Roma (ph Luca Giarelli).jpg, Map of

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

File:Valle Camonica e lago d'Iseo - Galleria delle carte geografiche - Musei vaticani - Roma (ph Luca Giarelli).jpg, Map of

Val Camonica Val Camonica or Valcamonica (), also Valle Camonica and anglicized as Camonica Valley, is one of the largest valleys of the central Alps, in eastern Lombardy, Italy. It extends about from the Tonale Pass to Corna Trentapassi, in the c ...

File:Venecia Vaticano.JPG, View of

File:Jesus talk with Lazarus after resurrected him in the maps room of the Vatican Museums.jpg, Painting of Jesus and Lazarus

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallery Of Maps Vatican Museums 1580s paintings Cartography by country

Design

Other decorations

Gallery

See also

References

External links