Things to do in Vatican City

The Vatican packs a state, a basilica and a museum system into under half a square kilometre. Julius II started the museums in 1506. Five centuries of collecting followed, and the church never really stopped.

Some seventy thousand works sit in the collection today, only a fraction of them on display at any time.

Michelangelo painted the Sistine ceiling from 1508 to 1512. He returned decades later for the Last Judgment on the altar wall.

St Peter's Basilica took over a century to finish. It is the largest church anywhere by interior volume. Michelangelo designed the dome, closed off only in 1590, after he died.

How the visit actually runs

The museum route runs one-way. It does not loop back, and empties into the Sistine Chapel near the very end. So nearly everyone sees the ceiling last, not first.

• No photos, no noise. The chapel bans cameras outright and expects near silence; guards clap and call for quiet when phones come out.
• A separate queue. St Peter's Basilica sits outside the museum ticket, entered from the square through its own security line.
• Bernini's square. The colonnade around it runs to 284 columns and 140 saints on the roofline, finished in 1667 as what Bernini called the church's welcoming arms.

Practical

• Museum hours. Monday to Saturday, roughly eight to eight, with last entry two hours before close.
• The free Sunday. Free entry on the last Sunday of the month, but only a short morning window, and the queue starts before sunrise.
• Dress code. Covered shoulders and knees for the basilica and the museums alike; no exceptions at the door.
• The dome. A separate climb, part lift and part narrow stairs, up to the base of Michelangelo's cupola.
• Best hour. Basilica mornings are calmer than the museum's midday crush; both fill fast once tour buses arrive.