Hidden Treasures of the Vatican Museums

[@toldinstone]

If you’d like to book an in-depth tour of the Vatican Museums, I recommend Through Eternity Tours, a Rome-based company that specializes in custom walks and virtual tours. Save 5% on any private or group tour with the discount code TOLDINSTONE. www.througheternity.com/en/vatican-tours/# You might also be interested in the Through Eternity KZbin channel: kzbin.infovideos

[@edosman6537]

Good video

[@Flash-Strike]

Through Eternity Great Channel Thanks

[@andyroo9381]

Even though you covered the very last statue, in a previous video, I still wish you would have discussed it again in this video. Who can get enough of looking at this beautiful work of art.

[@SI-ln6tc]

Is it just Roman artifacts? Maybe things from other civilizations too?

[@FransBlaas1]

Expensive tours..

[@SuperTommox]

This is so important. The museum doesn't provide tourists with this meticulous and well explained narration about the pieces. Museums need more of this.

[@ChimpityChoo]

Which makes it even more frustrating to see that the only (likely) person in the vicinity, whom should be permitted on the other side of the rope to Apoxyomenos, is subject to the plebeian sight line

[@cerberus6654]

Do you really think a bunch of Italian religious would provide anyone with a well explained narration about anything?

[@robertdobbs2283]

@@cerberus6654 When I toured the Vatican Museum I thought the explanation and historical narratives were wonderful. But, I'm not a bigot and so I'm not prejudiced against them.

[@surplusrevenge2013]

To be fair, when it comes to the Vatican Museums an in depth explanation of the pieces would ultimately result in months long tour

[@midshipman8654]

reminds me kind of those audio tours. I worked in a museum, and believe me, most that have collected material for 50+ years of donations and purchases and finds only even showcase a small percentage of their collection and don’t go all that in detail about most either. given that most patrons are not exactly historians themselves and are perfectly fine with a light explaination. Of course, sometimes you can target your tour to your audience by feeling out the level and nature of their knowledge/interests. But still, often you got to target your broadest base.

[@superhooch]

The toe of the colossal statue is absolutely fascinating to me. To just imagine where that statue may have once stood and what it looked like, and all the people that saw it as part of their daily lives. Now we are left with just a small piece of the toe to give us a hint. Fascinating

[@free_at_last8141]

I like to think the sculptor just had a laugh and carved a giant toe after a notable night on the town. Thousands of years later, we imagine the colossus it must have belonged to.

[@Strawhalo]

Just like we see the statue of liberty now. A thousand years from now maybe only the hand will be left. And people will marvel how it looked like. Hopefully KZbin is archived and not censored

[@JonatasAdoM]

@@Strawhalo Hopefully someone won't just erase KZbin with the press of a button.

[@Strawhalo]

@@JonatasAdoM illuminati would do that 😔 unfortunately

[@ominous-omnipresent-they]

@@Strawhalo The Illuminate will erase KZbin with a press of a button?

[@jeffcampbell1555]

To comprehend the seemingly callous "piled up" riches of the Vatican museums, consider this: The Holy See existed within the ruins of the Roman Empire's capital city. No church could be expanded, no palazzo remodeled, no well dug or street graded or field plowed without digging up Roman artifacts. The vast baths and temple complexes were stripped for the columns, marbles slabs and building stone that comprise the present monuments of Rome. The collection grew in leaps and bounds every time a building project was undertaken. The popes didn't go treasure hunting; the bounty fell into their laps. I'm grateful they didn't burn the marble sculptures for quick lime.

[@robertmccully2792]

And how did they get buried?

[@hape3862]

@@robertmccully2792 After the fall of the Roman Empire the city of Rome degenerated into a small town with only a few thousand inhabitants for hundreds of years. Vegetation overgrew the monuments and built up soil above them over the centuries.

[@malkomalkavian]

The flooding of The Tiber fills the streets with silt

[@jonathanmcalroy8640]

That explains how the Vatican has these ancient monuments but its no excuse for how they are treated today.

[@hape3862]

@@jonathanmcalroy8640 How are they are "treated today"??? They are in a museum, for everyone to visit. Nothing to "excuse".

[@TooCynical]

This channel is a diamond in the rough. I’m so glad I found it. Each videos is informative and visually pleasing. Thanks for sharing what you love.

[@hape3862]

Fun fact: When the German Poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stayed in Rome 1786-88, he saw the Laocoon, whose right arm was reconstructed stretched out. Goethe immediately saw that this couldn't be right according to the muscles and the anatomy. The original arm was only found in 1900 and replaced in 1960. This shows the aesthetic intuition of Goethe.

[@kerryrwalton7791]

Michelangelo intuited what the arm would look like and he was right!

[@babisz8640]

But he didnt noticed the Pieta ....

[@SnailHatan]

That’s not intuition, that’s just anatomical knowledge. The opposite of intuition. He knew it was wrong because the anatomy was wrong, and that Romans had a meticulously detailed understanding of musculature

[@kerryrwalton7791]

@@SnailHatan Yes he knew anatomy he was an expert and preformed dissections perhaps the word intuited can be applied to the position of the arm. Baccio Bandinelli created his own version in the wrong position that others copied.

[@kerryrwalton7791]

@Dio Ego Yes you are right see my response(s)

[@twstf8905]

5:52(ish) LOOK at how detailed and intricate these sarcophagus are! Imagine how difficult it would be to carve that! You couldn't make ANY mistakes at all! I hope the job paid well, the artists certainly earned it! 👍

[@Polyfusia]

I never realized that the Romans had so many works that are as good as works by Renaissance figures like Michelangelo, who clearly was inspired by and essentially copied their stylings.

[@superhooch]

That's why it's called the renaissance! The rebirth of interest in classical art and philosophy

[@sagapoetic8990]

It's fascinating to consider the influences behind the influencers -- and to continue reflecting backwards in time. I think the so-called ancient civilizations may really be modern? If you think how long the history of humans really is. Time is mis-defined

[@Blackadder75]

If you could walk around in Rome in the times of emperor Trajan, your mind would be blown

[@danielchequer5842]

@@Blackadder75 crazy to think that, right? To think in the future people will walk over the ruins of new york in hopes of catching only a glimpse of what it might've been to live there "at its peak" and now we just don't think about something like "the fall of new york" even though it might be closer than we think, just like the romans during trajans reign

[@Polyfusia]

@@sagapoetic8990 Exactly my thoughts. Roman stuff seems so recent to me. It feels modern. It seems more modern than the middle ages or the dark ages. The art and culture and architecture isn't that far off from the recent past. It feels 200 years old. Not 2000.

[@spacelemur7955]

Yes, 99% of all tourists run off to the Sistine Chapel and one does get these wonderful rooms almost to one's self.

[@PRH123]

The last time I was there a couple of years ago in April it was so jam packed with tourists that it was impossible to see anything, it was like the metro at rush hour.

[@jeffwalther3935]

@@PRH123 Being a humanist, I'm impressed, rather than dismayed, at your deploring the museums packed with tourists. All these pieces celebrate humanity AND divinity like nothin' else in existence SSSOOO the people know what's good, and they come in droves to see and experience the beauty of it all AS PILGRIMS to Christianity, of course, but also to Greek, Roman and Italian civilization and triumphs in their lifetimes. Atheists must love these museums too because we are humanists, like Jesus, without the supernaturalist parts, for goodness' sake. This video is awesome.

[@Enlightened0ne]

@@jeffwalther3935 ok.

[@jeffwalther3935]

@@Enlightened0ne OK then. 😊😊

[@beejuh723]

@@PRH123 I was there in Oct 2018. It was literally like a slow moving river of people. You couldn't go any faster and you couldn't stop. We also did a tour of the Gardens and Necropolis of the Via Triumphalis(that's not the one under the Basilica). It was awesome unto itself, but a life saver to get away from the crowds for awhile. Our guide on that tour said to come back in January if we didn't want to tour the museums with 20,000 of our closest friends lol.

[@freethepeople4093]

Those reliefs are so impressive. The level of craftsmanship is utterly unbelievable. I challenge anyone in the world to carve something is as exquisite detail as these masterpieces are. It's crazy to think something that was carved 2000 years ago we couldn't duplicate today. And there's not just 1 of them. There's a bunch. They did this regularly.

[@jmeyer3rn]

U of Michigan!! Love Michigan. The state of course! Beautiful state. Your videos are so amazing!!! Mom lived in Flint. Dad from Indiana. We went to Michigan so many times when I was growing up. Thank you for sharing your work with us!!!

[@Nana-qd6iu]

I visited this very place once when i was a teen. I remember wanting to stay all day looking at everything. The two dogs were my favorite. Thanks for showing us your insights, i wish i had a museum tour as good as yours! It makes me want to visit it again :). (sorry for weird english)

[@PoleToPoleTravel]

This museum is so vast and amazing. I wish I had more than a day to go through it when I did

[@DusanPavlicek78]

This was truly awesome. I love the quiet, educational style of your videos.

[@ms.donaldson2533]

I love touring Rome with you!

[@BenKlassen1]

awesome. Thanks for sharing. I love Roman and Greek art and history.

[@jmeyer3rn]

Love these videos. Yes, these statues have so many nuances. At first, if you don’t study the faces and just look at the posture and physicality of the statue you really miss so much. It’s like going to the Pantheon and just standing in the square, never entering this beautifully designed structure, never gazing up into the oculus.

[@donaldauguston9740]

Thank you so much. I just bought your book today. Have a good weekend, DA

[@Sumermak]

That was awesome! Thank you! Please Do more of the Vatican museums!

[@757575436]

We visited the Vatican twice,we can only imagine the unseen wealth that exist in the labyrinth of the Vatican vaults.

[@goldenineke]

I’m so excited. Your book has just been delivered! Regards from Australia 🇦🇺

[@Tuherd]

Thanks for all you do!

[@jaybee9269]

Awesome content, bro!

[@blakelowrey9620]

The dogs were my favorite. I have never seen something like that from the classical world

[@sirchromiumdowns2015]

I always learn something from your videos. They are excellent.

[@colinslant]

What a luxury to be able to wander around the Vatican museum without the crowds! It felt like being in a herd of sheep when I was there a couple of years ago. I was disappointed to find the tomb of the Scipios wasn't open to the public, but at least I got to see Barbatus' sarcophagus, along with so many other pieces I'd only seen photos of before, in the Vatican and Capitoline musea.

[@cherylsmith4826]

Seeing the Laocoon sculpture is on my bucket list- so mesmerizing & beautiful. Can only imagine the power it extrudes when actually standing by it.

[@kevinlong5842]

I fought my way back through the Sistine Chapel and most of the Vatican museums to see that statue after our tour guide had marched us through without pointing it out. My advice, don't take a tour and go in the late afternoon when the crowds have thinned out.

[@cherylsmith4826]

@@kevinlong5842 sorry that was your experience- it obviously drew you to it- how exciting you were able to stand before it- thank you for the advice-

[@paulamarie43]

Your Channel is FANTASTIC !!!

[@k6num24]

Thanks for the walk through!

[@jonathanbrown1177]

Just bought your book, i hope it is half as good as your youtube content-How about something on the role/uses of the humble olive in a future video?

[@toldinstone]

Deeply appreciated! A video on the many uses of the olive in the classical world would be very interesting. When I visited Sparta a few years ago, I spent an enjoyable afternoon at the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil. Perhaps I could use that as a point of departure...

[@ClassicDannyboy]

Congratulations on 100k subscribers and the many amazing videos that got you there :D

[@Mr.PepeSilvia]

Congratulations on hitting over 100k!

[@merlindavilla3837]

Very precious. The Catholic Church is very rich in her treasures.PRICELESS I will visit Vatican City ,when .the pandemic is over.

[@EncinoLIVE]

This Channel seriously turns me on, Thank you for making these videos, you are bringing a lot of joy to us history nerds!

[@mcoll6694]

WOW!!! The combination of your narration with visual examples indirectly reveals the roots of early modern Italian visual culture on so many levels. Did the pre-Roman conquista Greeks also depict wealthy patrons as gods in public art as well?

[@toldinstone]

The habit of presenting important people as gods really got started in the Hellenistic era, when Greek kings had themselves portrayed as gods or heroes. The Roman elite (and especially the emperors) adopted the convention a couple centuries later.

[@mcoll6694]

@@toldinstone very true! I forgot about that.

[@GasserNorm]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing and the history lesson.

[@Doug6412]

Thank you for bringing back memories of a time when we could travel. I always feel saddened when I look at the Vatican museums. More like a magpie’s nest than a collection for education. More a statement of power than a celebration of human endeavour. Thank you for bringing a little part to life.

[@johndorilag4129]

huh

[@ralfjansen9118]

Well, after all it were the popes who made up the collection to show their power and wealth, they were the lords of Rome until the Italian unification

[@nuzzi6620]

Read the pinned comment. Hating on the popes is boring and inaccurate.

[@ralfjansen9118]

@@nuzzi6620 Nobody shows hate to the pope (I appreciate the museums) but one should accept the facts of history. And when I visited the museum last year (unprepared!), oh lord what a untidy mess of collections of the several popes, didactic measures was obviously not their thing. At the end of my visit, I just stumbled through the corridors hardly without looking left or right and was sure my legs got 2 inches shorter ;-) If you recommend a professional tour as a necessity, you just confirm our point.

[@nuzzi6620]

@@ralfjansen9118 My bad, the comment was not pinned. This is what I was referring to -- a comment from someone else: _To comprehend the seemingly callous "piled up" riches of the Vatican museums, consider this: The Holy See existed within the ruins of the Roman Empire's capital city. No church could be expanded, no palazzo remodeled, no well dug or street graded or field plowed without digging up Roman artifacts. The vast baths and temple complexes were stripped for the columns, marbles slabs and building stone that comprise the present monuments of Rome. The collection grew in leaps and bounds every time a building project was undertaken. The popes didn't go treasure hunting; the bounty fell into their laps. I'm grateful they didn't burn the marble sculptures for quick lime._

[@leaf732]

great video thank you very much for such a great analysis!

[@SOGYPANCAKES]

Really great video, currently reading your book and enjoying it.

[@johnspurrier0001]

This is what YT was invented for. Thank you for the superb work!

[@tombystander]

Can't articulate my appreciation enough for you explaining items as you show them. Very helpful to the lesser informed viewers lol

[@nancyM1313]

Thank you for making history very enjoyable. Stay safe❤

[@sherylcrowe3255]

Wonderful video. Thank you.

[@Rayza82]

Awesome walk-through and information. How did you learn so much in depth information about each piece? That certainly can't all be found online or books. Did a guide help you and how do they know that information? Amazing stuff.

[@toldinstone]

I did a lot of reading in old guidebooks and the Vatican Museums catalogue (which is online, though in Italian).

[@pamelafolger8449]

Always loved this story!😊💖

[@jacobalvarado6056]

I would pay good money to have you as my tour guide haha ive learned so much from your channel i plan on reading your book soon!!

[@fastertrackcreative]

"according to myth, Achilles fell in love with the amazon, *after* fatally wounding her. He was a stab first ask questions later sort of guy" 😆. Love that dry humour. I love your video essays/lectures.

[@geraldcapon392]

Thank you sir. An excellent vid, very well done.

[@rodolfoayalajr.8589]

Great educational video friend.

[@odd9238]

A video about the Roman mines would be interesting.

[@aka99]

i agree

[@aninternationalbadinfluenc9271]

Excellent as always.

[@SuzzieMarie0130]

The Vatican also offers once a week “after-hours, tours in the summer, limited number of visitors allowed. For a some exrea euros, you literally have the place, especially the Sistine Chapel to your self

[@tamlynburleigh9267]

Thanks for this.

[@music_by_carlos]

love art love history im currently a art history major in college this is the best channel online love you!!!!!

[@helbitkelbit1790]

Art major........... Good luck with that

[@davidolien2828]

Fabulous. Thank you!

[@chemismokebender1362]

So so cool and fascinating

[@macscotsman51]

Fascinating. Thank you.

[@susanhepburn6040]

Thank you very much.

[@33Donner77]

No crowds in early evening! That's the time to be in this museum.

[@ciprianpopa1503]

Not exactly. The museum is huge. Showing up late means that you'll be kicked off before seeing all of it .

[@dirtyoldfarmhand3]

Bravo!

[@hakon5873]

Just joined patreon, lovely videos

[@Flash-Strike]

THANKS BROTHER GOD Bless YOU and Yours

[@philt4346]

How about that funky font on the Casali Altar inscription? It's stylistic in tune with current aesthetics.

[@kaltonian]

thank you, incredible history & art, the courtyard is so roman, time warp

[@gabrielquinn7208]

Could you do a video on tattoos in ancient Rome?

[@toldinstone]

It's on the list!

[@arshdixit1566]

more videos about museums please

[@Hamispeople]

A fan meet up tour of Roman monuments???

[@gregorylittle1461]

When I think of the throng of people I have always had to deal with at that wonderful museum...you lucky dog!!😂

[@musicfortripping5843]

Smoked a big splif in the Vatican last year was great

[@slyleggs4344]

If they are in a public museum with a public website that you can see the artifacts then these are not hidden.

[@silverkitty2503]

Wow ty

[@dmacmillion]

Buy Garrett's book already, it's good!

[@pvoshefski]

Jaw dropping.

[@julioferrazdecampos1685]

Hi! How could you visit the Musei Vaticani empty ? Thank you very much!!!

[@babyyoda0U812]

Whoa !!!

[@benjaminmurray5552]

Are the holes in the sarcophagi intentionally placed as receptacles for flowers or some other purpose? The front of the Casali Alter and hair of the reclining lady had those features.

[@justins7796]

if i had a museum to myself i'd never leave

[@Sailormoonpi]

Just in time

[@ronaldtreitner1460]

likely one of the best places to keep history from being forgotten and destroyed. museums are not so reliable and after awhile stuff gets tossed in a pile somewhere and wrecked, stolen, etc.,

[@free_at_last8141]

My goodness, how did you get the museum to yourself like that? I've never seen it not packed like sardines.

[@savioblanc]

He probably did with all the lockdowns

[@toldinstone]

This summer, the Vatican Museums were open late on Thursdays. I showed up at 7 PM, and found the place almost empty.

[@babisz8640]

How did you manage to find it so empty. Each time went in there were mases of tourists and the wave doesnt allow you to enjoy the moment or pay attention to details. Only Laocoon outside maybe.

[@8beef4u]

I am really interested in the rest of that giant toe's statue

[@jjmarroquin]

Are those busts just "placed" there? Seems rather unsafe for a land prone to earthquakes.

[@RizzstrainingOrder66]

10:59 is this roman too or just the part above?

[@taterkaze9428]

"we only need to notice" - truth!

[@fostersstubbyasmr9557]

I hope one day we can see what’s hidden in the Vatican library

[@kaloarepo288]

A key figure in the appreciation of ancient classical art especially the materials held in 18th century Rome was the German art historian and critic Johann Winckelmann -we owe the historical divisions we have in ancient Greek art to him and he had enormous influence on later people in all fields.He famously did a study on the testicles of the ancient male(obviously)statues -one hanging lower than the other which is anatomical fact!He was murdered in Trieste in 1768 in a possibly gay related crime.

[@bookofdust]

Wasn’t he the one who pushed the “white purity” of Greek and Roman sculpture and helped perpetuate that they weren’t painted and that they should be extensively over cleaned?

[@kaloarepo288]

@@bookofdust I hadn't heard that about Winckelmann but I do know that by the nineteenth century at least artists and art experts were realizing that the ancient statues were painted -an example is the English neo-classical sculptor Gibson who actually had his statues tainted pink to look like human flesh.

[@kaloarepo288]

Sorry John Gibson was Welsh and not English -he was a pupil of the greatest of all neo-classical sculptors Antonio Canova in Rome where Gibson died.There is an example of one of his tinted pink statues -his tinted Venus which is in the Walker Gallery,Liverpool,England.

[@bookofdust]

@@kaloarepo288 Hi, I knew I had just heard about him recently, even though my original training was in Art History, it came from this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJfQg52MmqiNb9U

[@dumoulin11]

I would LOVE to be there one day.

[@chadmichael5700]

I would love to see more about Memnon making Achilles bleed at the battle of Troy. Hector vs Achilles wasn’t anything compared to Achilles vs Memnon. It was said Zeus projected the warriors into the sky so everyone could watch….

[@Between_Scylla_and_Kharybdis]

When I was there (many, many moons ago…), there was a picture in front of Laocoon, showing the first “version”, with the straight arm (before the current one was reattached) Is it still there?

[@toldinstone]

Yes, they still have a plaque showing the old, incorrect reconstruction.

[@freemorox5896]

6m 12 s Looks like Achilles is still doing a bit of stabbing while holding the dying queen too.

[@525Lines]

If it's been restored so many times, how come the hands are still gone?

[@Blackadder75]

restoring doesn;t mean they make new parts to replace lost ones, they just repair the construction of existing parts. "glue them back together" (this can lead to some added 'filler' but not to replacing lost limbs)

[@525Lines]

@@ezicarus8216 True that.

[@525Lines]

@@Blackadder75 Seems to me some statues did have replaced parts. Since the statues were usually scrubbed down to remove not only dirt but also paint, it's odd to think the renaissance artists had a line when it came to restoration.

[@alphamale3141]

I wonder what happened to the statues of the gods that were located in the Pantheon?

[@brandonlabbe3577]

You probably won't see this but if you do, what time of year did you go that it was so empty? Or was this during that magical window of little travel that the pandemic created?

[@Sandhoeflyerhome]

Is there more than one ?

[@pgmreallaw]

I’m intending to see the Vatican museums next year. There are also Roman empowers buried under the Vatican. I’ve long suspected Ancient Rome poured itself into Roman Christianity and identity in order to survive. I don’t think real me ever really died. Long live Rome!

[@Sinsteel]

Is the "sun god" perhaps an aspect of Jupiter?

[@musicfortripping5843]

Top tip if you bring a child to the Vatican museum you will skip the massive queues

[@adler923]

The most remarkable piece to me personally was the woman holding the scroll and conversing with philosophers. Wow. I wanted to know who she was! When did she live? Did she go to the Library often? Did she ever write anything? Do we know anything about her? It's so rare we get to hear of intellectual women in the Roman world. Was there ever a female Roman Senator? Now we might get our FIRST female president (we're way behind the rest of the world). Maybe Rome fell because they only utilized half of the Roman brain-power with men only.

[@gstady]

moving along....