The Vatican from a Jewish Perspective | Private

Everybody knows the Vatican as the epicenter of Catholicism, the beating heart of the Christian world. Few look beyond its Christian facade and ancient collections to uncover a different side to the Vatican. A side in which the oldest of the Abrahamic traditions takes center stage.

Your private Vatican Tour from a Jewish Perspective walks you through the Vatican’s vast collection, offering a unique lens through which to decode its symbols and discover its treasures. From the Jewish imagery of the Sistine Chapel to the Jewish artifacts of the Vatican Museums and Saint Peter’s Basilica, you and your expert guide will fully explore the Vatican for a perspective most visitors in the Eternal City completely overlook.

Explore the famed halls and galleries of the Vatican Museums

Stepping straight inside the Vatican with special skip-the-line entry, you’ll proceed straight towards the highlights of the Vatican Museums’ renowned collections. Fully explore the marble-coated Gallery of the Candelabra, burnished gold Gallery of Maps, and the intricately detailed Gallery of Tapestries, seeking out the subtle Jewish symbolism hidden away in each.

Stretched across almost 4.5 miles of corridors, the Vatican Museums boasts one of the largest art collections in the world. With the focus of approaching them from an entirely Jewish perspective, your private guide will be able to venture into greater depth as you explore its many highlights.

Discover the secrets of the Jewish Lapidarium

Should its collection be open to the public, your Vatican Tour from a Jewish Perspective will take you through the Jewish Lapidarium: a unique collection showcasing some of the most interesting inscriptions from ancient Rome’s Jewish community.

Hailing from the Jewish Catacomb of Monteverde, near Trastevere, these inscriptions offer fascinating glimpses into the social, religious, and cultural lives of Rome’s Jewish community between the third and fourth centuries AD. Your expert guide will introduce you to the most interesting, bringing you face to face with the ghosts of history.

Get an all-new angle on the Sistine Chapel

If there’s one attraction you can’t miss during your time in the Vatican, it’s the Sistine Chapel: Michelangelo’s undisputed magnum opus and one of the most lasting and influential contributions to western art. Standing beneath its frescoed ceiling with Michelangelo’s Last Judgement stretching up in front of you, you’ll experience the Sistine Chapel like few others, viewing it through a lens many would never stop to think to look through.

Let your private guide regale you with stories of Michelangelo’s immersion in the Talmud, Torah, and Kabbalah – immersion which informed the visual iconography intrinsic to the Sistine Chapel’s famed designs.

Take in the breathtaking Saint Peter’s Basilica

From the Sistine Chapel, you’ll make your way to Saint Peter’s Basilica for the final part of your Vatican Tour from a Jewish Perspective. Your private tour concludes outside in Saint Peter’s Square where, in the shadow of the square’s obelisk, surrounded by Bernini’s perfectly proportioned colonnade, your guide will put together the final pieces of the puzzle in a way that will engage, inform, and most importantly entertain.

Your private guide will direct you inside the storied walls of the basilica. Here you will see Michelangelo’s famous Pietà and Bernini’s Baldachin through new eyes, allowing you to experience Saint Peter’s like so few ever do.