APPARTAMENTO BORGIA
Rooms refurbished by Alexander VI Borgia with Renaissance decoration.
These rooms were refurbished by Alexander VI Borgia in the former apartments of Nicholas V and were closed by Julius II to mark his opposition to the Borgias. It was only much later that Leo XIII had them reopened and installed there the beginnings of the modern art collections that were beginning to experience a significant development. They should be visited for their Renaissance decoration, which is mainly due to Pinturicchio and his pupils, and as the first rooms of the Museum of Modern Art, which occupy most of this part of the Palace.
We will see the Sibyls Room and the Credo Room in the Borgia Tower, built between 1492 and 1494. The visit then takes us to the Hall of the Liberal Arts, that is to say, of the sciences, where the basics of medieval scholastic teaching are represented: both the trivium (grammar, dialectics and rhetoric) and the quadrium (geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy). The hall of the Liberal Arts was probably the study of Alexander VI.
Finally, we will linger in the Hall of the Saints. This last one is certainly the most interesting, because it was painted by the Pinturicchio himself, showing here his incredible genius. We will see, in particular, The Dispute of St. Catherine defending the faith before Constantine. The decorations mix mythological scenes with Christian motifs. In the room of the Mysteries of the Faith, one can admire a portrait of Pope Alexander VI.
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