Sistine, << SIHS teen, >> Chapel is a famous chapel in the palace of the Vatican in Rome. It was erected by Pope Sixtus IV in 1473. The chief papal ceremonies take place in this chapel. The chapel also is where the cardinals vote for a new pope. Canonizations and other ceremonies are held in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The Sistine Chapel is a simple building, 134 feet (41 meters) long by 44 feet (13 meters) wide, and 85 feet (26 meters) high. But it has on its walls and ceiling some of the greatest art ever produced in the Western world. Brilliant artists of the late 1400’s decorated the walls with paintings that tell the stories of Moses and Christ. On the ceiling are Biblical stories painted by the great artist Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512. The stories tell the history of the creation of the world, the fall of humanity, and the flood. On the wall above the altar is The Last Judgment, a painting 60 feet (18 meters) high and 30 feet (9 meters) wide. Michelangelo worked on The Last Judgment between 1536 and 1541.
