The Vatican Museums:
Octagonal Courtyard

Octagonal Courtyard, Vatican Museums, Rome
Octagonal Courtyard
The Octagonal Courtyard, once known as the Courtyard of the Statues, is home to an extraordinary collection of antique sculptures, including the Laocoön and the Apollo Belvedere. 
Laocoon and Sons, Vatican Museums, Rome
Laocoon and Sons
The statue of Laocoön and his Sons was found on January 14th 1506 on the Esquiline Hill. 

​Laocoön, who was a priest of Apollo in the city of Troy, warned his fellow Trojans against taking in the wooden horse left by the Greeks outside the city gates. Athena and Poseidon, who favoured the Greeks, sent two great sea-serpents to kill Laocoön and his two sons.   
Statue of Apollo Belvedere, Vatican Museums, Rome
Apollo Belvedere
The statue known as the Apollo Belvedere was discovered in Rome in 1489 among the ruins of an ancient domus on the Viminal Hill. It was immediately acquired by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, who, when he was elected pope under the name of Julius II (r. 1503-1513),  had the statue moved to the Vatican, where it is documented to have been present in the Palazzo del Belvedere since 1508.