One of the most beautiful works in the world is found on the ceiling of the chapel that was built between 1477-1480 for Pope Sixtus IV, hence its name – the Sistine Chapel. In this chapel, for hundreds of years, the new pope is chosen each time the previous pope dies. In a corner of the space, a stove is placed with a chimney that emits white smoke to announce to all the believers and onlookers the election of a new pope.

What draws visitors’ attention are two amazing works by Michelangelo – The Creation of the World on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on one of the walls above the prayer altar. When looking up, one is exposed to The Creation of the World – a masterpiece that leaves the viewer open-mouthed – a variety of figures, a selection of colors, precise anatomy, relationships between the figures, and several of the most famous scenes in the world – the creation of man and the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Michelangelo painted this work between 1508-1512, driven by the feeling that painting was not his favorite art and that he was not good at it. The painting above the altar, The Last Judgment, was painted between 1534-1541 following the sack of Rome in 1527 by the rebel soldiers of Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and the deep shock that afflicted him. With this, he warned the sinners. Jesus stands in the center as judge; on one side are the blessed and on the other the cursed. A must-see site.