The Vatican Museums:
​Gallery of the Maps

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Gallery of the Maps

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The spectacular Galleria delle Carte Geografiche (Gallery of the Maps) was commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII (r. 1572-85) and designed by Egnazio Danti (1536-86), Dominican priest, cosmographer and mathematician. 

Coat of Arms of Pope Gregory XIII

​The gallery, which is 120 metres long, was designed and built by Ottaviano Mascherino (1536-1606) between 1578 and 1579. It was painted between 1579 and 1581 with a series of maps of the regions of the Italian peninsula, its neighbouring islands, its most important ports, and the papal territory of Avignon.

Lower Calabria

Danti designed and prepared the cartoons of the 40 maps, each of which contain a scale, a wind-rose, and the coordinates of latitude and longitude.

Vault

The frescoes in the central panels of the vault illustrate events in the history of the church that happened in the territory mapped below on the walls, a marriage of history and geography. The paintings were planned by Girolamo Muziano (c.1532-92) and Cesare Nebbia (c.1536 - c.1622) and executed by a team of artists.

Pasce Oves Meas

Pasce Oves Meas (Feed my sheep), the fresco in the vault at the very centre of the gallery, which depicts Christ telling Peter to look after the crowd of believers, does not correspond to any of the lower panels. The pre-eminent position of the fresco highlights the significance of the message it bears, exalting Peter's leadership and the divine institution of the Church of Rome. 

Baptism of Constantine

​The maps of ancient and modern Italy are connected with five scenes on the vault, which illustrate episodes from the life of the emperor Constantine the Great (r. 306-337), the only figure to be represented so extensively in the gallery. 

A Barberini Bee

The gallery was restored in 1630, on the orders of Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623-44), who had his family's heraldic charge, a triad of bees, added to some of the maps. ​

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