Sistine Chapel

From the outside, the Sistine Chapel is much less ornamental than the surrounding buildings. But, lo and behold, inside it houses many a miracle.
(by George) I had taught about that ceiling in Humanities, but the richness of the recently cleaned color and the design still caught me off guard. Michelangelo began the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel age age 33, after he did NOT complete the 44 marble statues commissioned by Pope Julius who got tired of waiting around. (Michelangelo preferred sculpture.) He began the Last Judgment on the wall of this chapel at age 66 and died in his mid eighties, a very old man for that time. Looking up from the floor, the figures do not seem so much like weight lifters on steroids, as they do in close-up photos. It really is both humbling and inspiring to stand in the presence of this much genius.