Although a visit to the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s awe-inspiring frescoes is probably at the top of your list of what you need to see at the Vatican Museums, there is plenty more to see in Rome’s most incredible museum. The marvellous frescoes that Raphael painted in what are now known as the Raphael Rooms, commissioned by Pope Julius II at the same time as Michelangelo was working in the Sistine Chapel, provide a unique insight into the culture of the High Renaissance and are a spectacular highlight of the Vatican Museums in their own right. Read on to discover what to look out for in these stunning masterpieces of Renaissance art!

As soon as you enter the Vatican Museum you will come across the impressive spiral staircase designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1832. Now, as one of the most photographed staircases in the world, Momo’s staircase is famous not only for its home but for the sheer size of it.