Middle School
Worksheets
Experience the Renaissance in Vatican City
Vatican City is a most unusual place. It is an independent country that is also a tiny city. Its total area is only about 0.17 square miles. Vatican City is located inside the city of Rome, which is located in the country of Italy. So, as you can see, Vatican City is situated in the heart of what was once the High Renaissance.
The Italian Renaissance was a time of great creativity. Artists, musicians, architects, and writers produced amazing works during the centuries of the Renaissance. Would you like to see for yourself what the Renaissance was like? If so, there is no better place to surround yourself with Renaissance culture than Vatican City.
Much of the tiny city itself was rebuilt during the years of the Renaissance at the direction of the popes who ruled then. Saint Peter's Basilica was constructed over the site where the old basilica had stood. The Vatican Palace, where the pope lives and where the Sistine Chapel is located, and the Vatican Museums are some of the other buildings that make up the walled city.
It is all guarded by one of the oldest standing armies in the world, the 100 or so men of the Swiss Guard, who have guarded the city since the early 1500s. In their red, yellow, and blue striped costumes with puffy sleeves and pants, the guards add some colorful Renaissance atmosphere to the stately buildings. And they have plenty to guard, maybe more than the soldiers of some full-sized nations. That is because Vatican City is a storehouse of Renaissance treasures.
Nearly everything in the city is splendid and elegant, but two of the most magnificent locations are the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Basilica.
