VATICAN, PALACE OF, in Rome, the principal residence of the pope, and the seat of the great library and the museums, and collections of art, ancient and modern, which, for visitors, constitute one of the chief attractions of the city of Rome. The popes, very soon after the establishment of the peace of the church under the emperor Constantine, had a residence at the Vatican, which they occupied, although at uncertain intervals, conjointly with that of the Lateran. For a long time, however, through the mediaeval, and especially the late mediaeval period, the Vatican appears to have been neglected. It was Nicholas V. who began that systematic scheme for the improvement and embellishment of the Vatican which has resulted in what, taken altogether, may be regarded as perhaps the noblest of princely residences. Alexander VI., Julius II., and above all, Leo X., pursued the same plan; and there are very few of the succeeding popes who have not had a share in the enlargement or embellishment of the Vatican. Amid all the difficulties, financial and political, of his pontificate, Pius IX. carried out many tasteful works of completion or restoration, the most striking and effective of which is the great stair by which it is approached from the colonnade of St. Peter's. The building, with its gardens and other appurtenances, is said to cover a space equal to the whole area of the city of Turin, such as it was thirty years ago, with a pop. of
130.000. It is popularly believed to contain 16,000 apartments of various sizes, but this is probably an exaggeration. Some of them, however, are of unrivaled beauty, among which may be particularized the chapel of San Lorenzo,,the Pauline chapel, and the still more celebrated Sixtine chapel, Ivhich is decorated in frescoes from the pencil of Michael Angelo; the Sala Regia, the galleries and halls decoroted by Raphael, Giulio Romano, and their scholars; the magnificent library, which, although surpassed in the number of volumes, is unrivaled among the cities of Europe in extent, in beauty of proportions, and in decorations, the galleries of antiquities, Christian and pagan, and of paintings, statuary, bronzes, medals, vases, and other objects of art. Many descrip tions of the Vatican, with costly illustrations, have been published, and are to be found in all great libraries. An extremely interesting account, historical and descriptive. is to be found in Donovan's Rome, Ancient and Modern; see disci Hare's Walks in Rome, and for recent additions and changes, Murray's Handbook of Rome.