The Vatican Museums:
​The Borgia Apartment

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The Resurrection

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The Borgia Apartment is a suite of six rooms in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, which were used by Pope Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503). 

The suite is made up of the Sala dei Misteri (Room of the Mysteries), the Sala dei Santi (Room of the Saints), the Sala delle Arti Liberali (Room of the Liberal Arts), the Sala del Credo (Room of the Creed), the Sala delle Sibille (Room of the Sibyls) and the Sala dei Pontefici (Room of the Popes).  

Five of the six rooms were decorated with frescoes by the Perugian artist Bernardino di Betto (1454-1513), better known as Il Pinturicchio (the little painter). With the support of a team of artists, Pinturicchio completed the frescoes in little over a year, between the autumn of 1492 and the beginning of 1494. Speed of execution was one of the qualities for which he was particularly praised.  

In the painting of the Resurrection, in the Sala dei Misteri, the pope becomes a witness to the event. Dressed in a jewel-encrusted cope, he kneels, hands in prayer, in adoration. Alexander VI is portrayed bare-headed, his tiara resting on the ground. 

The Borgia Apartment was abandoned after Alexander VI's death, when Pope Julius II (r. 1503-13) refused to use rooms that had been occupied by his hated predecessor. 

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The Disputation of St Catherine of Alexandria

The Annunciation

The Assumption of the Virgin Mary

The Adoration of the Magi