ROME. 



441 



Kome. door opens into the Camera de RafTaello, which are a 

 Vv^y^*' range of unfurnished halls, the walls being covered 

 with figure-. 



Two antichambers, adorned with the paintings of 

 great masters, lead to the first hall, called the II ill of 



ustantine, bee* use it is adorned with the achievements 

 of that emperor. The second chamber contains the 

 ktory of Hcliodorus from the Maccabee, the interview 

 of Pope Leo and Attila, the miracle of Bolsena, and 

 the fim- picture of the liberation of St. IVu-r from pri- 

 son. The third chamber contains the School of the 

 Philosophers, the Debate on the Sacrament, the Judg- 

 ment of Solomon, and Parnassus with its groves of bays, 

 Apollo, the Muses, and the poets whom they inspir- 

 ed. The fourth chamber contains the Burning of the 

 Borgo San Andre, the Victory of Pope Leo over the 

 Saracens at Ostia, and the Coronation of Charlemagne. 

 The?e paintings are the work of Raphael. 



From these state apartments of the Vatican, we pass 

 to theBelvidere.so called from its elevation and prospect, 

 and, advancing along an extensive gallery, we reach an 

 iron door, which conducts us into the library of the Va- 

 J/ibrnry of tican. The books are all kept in cases, and are not 

 *h Vatican, seen. Th'eir number, Eustace says, has been estimated 

 at 2 and 4-00,000, while others raise it to a million, but 

 a more recent author says that it scarcely possesses 

 40,000. The usual entrance into the library is by the of- 

 fice of that of the clerks, or writers of the principal Euro- 

 pean languages who are attached to the library. Pass- 

 ing through an anti-room, you enter a hall 200 feet by 

 5(J, painted in fresco. In this hall there is a column 

 of oriental alabaster, for the baths of the emperor 

 Gordian, and other curiosities. At both ends of this 

 hall is a long gallery, the one being terminated by the 

 sacred, the other by the profane cabinet ; the former 

 being a collection of Christian, and the latter of Pagan 

 antiquities. The first consists of curiosities from the 

 catacombs, carvings of Madonnas, martyrdoms in bas re- 

 liefs, &c. The adjacent chamber of the Papyrus, de- 

 corated by Raphael and Mengs, is highly admired. The 

 pavement is of the richest marble, and the walls are 

 enamelled with giallo and verde antico, with porphyry, 

 and pilasters of oriental granite of the highest polish. 

 The papyrus MSS. are enclosed in the walls in long 

 columns under glass. At this end the late Pope has 

 added some rooms, in which the books are both visible 

 and tangible, and in which there is a fine collection of 

 Greek vases. There is a good cabinet of medals in the 

 library, and also a collection of prints. At the other 

 end of this immense gallery is the profane cabinet, 

 which possesses a grand collection of antiques, particu- 

 larly of bronze. Here there are some types for stamping, 

 approaching closely to printing types. There are here 

 several lead water pipes marked with the plumber's 

 name ; and perhaps the most singular curiosity is the 

 long hair of a Roman lady, found in a tomb in the Ap- 

 pian way, and in a state of perfect preservation. 



The grand gallery which leads to the library termi- 

 nates in the museum Pio-CIementinum, begun by Cle- 

 ment XIV. and completed by Pius VI. It consists of 

 several apartments, galleries, halls, and temples, some 

 lined with marble, others with mosaic pavement, and 

 all of them full of statues, altars, tombs, candelabra, 

 and vases. Three anti-chambers, called II vestibolo 

 Quudrato, II vestibolo Rotondo, and La Camera di Bac- 

 cho, lead to a court more than ICO feet square, with a 

 portico supported by granite pillars, and decorated by 

 antiquities of all kinds ; with the Apollo Belvidere, the 

 Laocoon, the cartoons and the Torso. Next to the court 

 is the hall of animals, furnished with the ancient statues 

 VOL. xvn. PART ir. 



of animals. At one end this hall opens into the gallery Rotn. 

 of Sutues, containing on each fide exquisite statues of \&- -m^ J 

 Greek and Roman sculpture, and terminated by three 

 apartments called the Slame delle Buttc. The bust* 

 rest on table! or stands of ancient workmanship, and 

 commonly of the most curious and beautiful marble. 

 At the opposite end of the gallery is an apartment call- 

 ed // (inftmetto, adorned by the united arts of painting, 

 sculpture, and architecture. Its roof is supported by 

 eight columns of alabaster. The place shines with an- 

 cient mirrors, and its roof is adorned with the events 

 of history and mythology. This cabinet communicate* 

 by an open gallery with the S'.anze delle Buste on one 

 side, and the hall of animals on the other. Through 

 noble pillared vestibule we now enter the temple of the 

 Muses, an octagon supported by sixteen pillars of Car- 

 rara marble with ancient capitals, and paved with ancient 

 mosaics. Next to the temple of the Muses is the Sala 

 Rotonda, a lofty dome, supported by ten columns of 

 Carrara marble, paved with the largest mosaics yet 

 found. In the middle is a vase of porphyry, fifty feet in 

 circumference, or forty-two, according to a later author. 

 This hall is appropriated to colossal statues, among which 

 are Ceres, Juno, Lanuvina, Hadrian. Antinous, Jupiter, 

 Jupiter Serapis, and Ocean. From th ; Rotonda, which 

 is reckoned the finest hall in the museum, a rich portal 

 leads to the Sala a Croce Greca, supported by co- 

 lumns, and paved with an ancient mosaic brought from 

 Cicero's villa. Here is a vast sarcophagus, formed with 

 its lid of one block of red porphyry, adorned in basso 

 relievo with little cupids. This once contained the 

 ashes of Constantia, the daughter of Constantine. 



This last hall opens on a double staircase raised on 

 twenty. two pillars of red and white granite, with mar- 

 ble steps and a bronze ballustrade. The middle flight 

 leads to the Vatican library, the other two to the gallery 

 of Candelabra, a long gallery of six compartments, se- 

 parated by columns of rich marble. This gallery con- 

 tains various candelabra with vases and other objects of 

 antiquity. At the end of this long suite of apartments 

 a door opens into the Gallcria de Quadri, containing a 

 collection of pictures by the Italian masters. On the 

 left, before descending the above-mentioned staircase, 

 there is a beautiful little circular temple of marble, 

 called the Stanze della Biga, from the biga or triumphal 

 car of richly sculptured marble which stands in the 

 centre, drawn by two fiery steeds of bronze. It is a- 

 dorned by four bas reliefs, a statue of Auriga, and* 

 fine discobolu*. Besides these galleries, there is the 

 long geographical gallery, with maps of the Italian 

 mountains and rivers on its walls, and the tapestry 

 clumbers hung with tapestry woven in Flanders, and 

 copied from the cartoons of Raphael. 



Among the other objects of public interest at Rome, Muwuni of 

 is the museum of the Capitol, consisting of splendid the Capi'oJ. 

 halls and galleries, filled with the treasures of ancient 

 sculpture, which it is impossible here to enumerate, far 

 less to describe. The museum of paintings in the Ca- 

 pitol is contained in the opposite^ Palazzo di Conser- 

 vatori, in which there are likewise many objects of an- 

 tiquity. The paintings are coarse, and inferior in inte- 

 rest to the scu.ptures in the other museum. 



The limits of this article, already overstepped, will Modem 

 not permit us to give any account of the palaces or p*lc*. 

 family residences of the n.tibdity in Rome. In many 

 of the palaces the lower sttfries have grated windows, 

 and no glass. In others they are used as shops, while 

 the middle story is let out as lodgings, and the npble 

 families who own them, inhabit the upper story. The 

 riano palace-, for example, has- shops below. The 

 JS K~ 



