STANZE DI RAFFAELLO

Raphael's four rooms (stanze) in the Borgia Tower were the private apartments of Julius II. He called on the most famous artists of the time to paint them. Perugino, Bramante, Piero della Francesca and Luca da Cortona were among them. Bramante spoke to the Pope about a young man doing wonders in Siena. Julius II agreed to bring this prodigy in 1508. Raphael was then 25 years old. He carried out the Dispute of the Blessed Sacrament. Julius II liked it so much that he had the frescoes of the other great masters destroyed and ordered the whole thing from Raphael.

I The Constantine Hall

Four frescos decorate the walls of this room. The drawings are by Raphael, but it was his school that made them after the artist's death in 1520, and it took 7 years, from 1517 to 1524, for these frescoes to be completed. In this room, the Pope received his guests at official events.

The Appearance of the Cross. The emperor climbed onto a platform when the Cross appeared in heaven. A voice then rose: "With this sign, you will win. "The artist probably represented himself, at the bottom right, as a grimacing dwarf, trying to girdle a warrior helmet.

The Battle of the Milvius Bridge. It's the fresco painted on the main wall. The cross surmounts Constantine's flags that defeat Maxentius, who is seen drowning in the Tiber.

Constantine's Baptism. The artist was inspired by the baptistery of Saint-Jean-de-Latran, whose background he painted. Pope Sylvester I, who has the features of Clement VII, crowned with the tiara - a pretty anachronism -, can be seen baptizing the emperor, wearing an undone loincloth. On the left, we recognize Francis I.

The Gift of Rome. The scene takes place in the old basilica, which can be seen in the choir in the background of the fresco with the columns that Bernini will reuse. Pope Sylvester I, who again has the features of the reigning Pope Clement VII, sits on his throne under a red and gold canopy, while Constantine kneels before him. The emperor offered him a statuette of Rome, symbolizing the gift.

The Triumph of Christianity. The vault is remarkable for the modernism of the central theme, where no characters appear. A golden cross is placed on a pedestal; on the marble floor, there is a statue broken into pieces, representing the pagan cult.

II Heliodorus Chamber

The biblical episode of Heliodorus, commissioned by the King of Syria to destroy the Temple of Jerusalem and killed by two young men on leaving the Temple, was chosen by Julius II to affirm papal possession over his lands. Four frescos, painted by Raphael from 1511 to 1514, decorate the room.

The Expulsion of Heliodorus. Julius II does not intervene directly in the scene, but is represented on the left, dressed in pontifical vestments. He is sitting on the sedia gestatoria carried by Raphael and one of his comrades. Heliodorus is seen being driven ashore by a spirited horseman who is none other than the divine messenger, who holds a mass of weapons in his hand.

The Deliverance of Saint Peter. The fresco is painted on one of the walls with a window. We see an angel, in a shining cloud, waking Pierre in his jail. The armour guards from Raphael's time are asleep and, on the right side of the wall, an angel guides Peter to the exit.

The Meeting between Pope Leo X and Attila. Leo X did meet Attila near Mantua, but the background with a basilica and an obelisk suggests that the scene is taking place in Rome. Saints Peter and Paul appear in heaven and strike Attila, who retreats.

The Mass of Bolsene. Narrative of a miracle that took place in 1263 in Bolsène. While the priest was celebrating Mass, the host began to bleed in order to dispel the doubt in the mind of this priest with an insufficiently firm faith. Julius II is depicted kneeling in front of the miraculous scene and, on the right, the Swiss Guards in their uniforms of the time.

The vault. Four mural frescoes evoke four scenes from the Old Testament: Noah's Ark, Isaac's sacrifice, the burning bush and Jacob's dream.

III Chamber of Signature

It was here that Julius II had set up his office and library. The frescoes that decorate the walls and vault are therefore intended to remind him of the main elements of theology as well as the ideal features of the human spirit, namely the True, the Good and the Beautiful. We will also note in passing the quality of the design of the floor paving.

The Dispute of the Blessed Sacrament. This fresco represents the True Theological. On the lower floor are gathered, jumbled together, Fra Angelico, Bramante, Dante, Saint Thomas Aquinas, other saints, and Julius II under the guise of Saint Gregory the Great, around an altar supporting a monstrance. Raphael's first work in the Vatican, the young painter put all his soul into it and it is likely that he was not helped by anyone.

The Athens School. Raphael expressed the True Philosophical Truth in it. It is within a basilica inspired by Bramante's drawings that Raphael brought together the supporters of philosophical truth. In the centre stands Plato, in the guise of Leonardo da Vinci. To his right are Socrates, Xenophon, Alcibiad, Alexander, Zeno, Epicurus, Averroes, Pythagoras and Michelangelo, who gives Heraclitus his features. To his left are Aristotle, Diogenes, Euclid, who is represented with the face of Bramante, Zoroaster, Ptolemy. Raphael represented himself in white, on the right-hand side.

The Parnassus. It is a complete fresco located above one of the windows. Raphael expresses beauty in it. We meet all those who contribute to beauty: Apollo, Clio, Virgil, Homer, Dante, Petrarch, Sapho, Ovid, Horace and others.

Cardinal and theological virtues. We find them above the other window. Three women represent the Force (with a branch), Prudence (with two faces), Temperance (with reins). Three angels symbolize Faith (he shows the sky), Charity (he plays with acorns), Hope (he holds a torch). But one is missing..

Gregory IX receives the Decrees of Saint Raymond de Penafort. It is here that Justice, the fourth of the cardinal virtues, is represented with canon law.

The vault. The theme is the same as the one developed on the walls. Four medallions represent Theology, Philosophy, Justice and Poetry.

IV Borgo Fire Chamber

This is the dining room of Leo X, who succeeded Julius II in 1513. The vault is from Perugino, but the murals of Raphael's school. According to legend, in 847, Pope Leo IV extinguished a fire with the sign of the cross. Leon X wanted the representation of this scene to be associated with his name.

The Borgo Fire. In the background, we see the ancient basilica and two of its doors. In his loggia, Pope Leo IV, who has the features of Leo X, draws a sign of the cross with his right hand. In the foreground, panic: a woman holds out her swaddled child, a naked man descends a wall and, on the left, inspired by Virgil, Raphael represents Aeneas fleeing the city of Troy, also in flames, carrying his father Anchise and accompanied by the child Ascagne.

The Coronation of Charlemagne. It was Leo III who crowned Charlemagne in 800, but it was Bramante's drawing that inspired Raphael for the architecture of his fresco. Charlemagne, glabrous, has the features of Francis I, in reference to the Treaty of Bologna which has just been signed between France and the Pope.

The Oath of Leo III. The alliance between Charlemagne and Leo III benefited the two men and the two institutions they represented, the Holy Roman Empire and the Apostolic See.

The Battle of Ostia. It is Leo IV, who succeeded in defeating the Saracens, who is represented here during the famous battle of Ostia. Here again, it is under the guise of Leo X that the heroic figure of his predecessor appears.

The vault of the Perugino. Four medallions represent God the Father with the angels, the Son between John the Precursor and Satan disguised as an old man, the Holy Trinity and the Apostles, Christ in his glory.