The Vatican Museums are public in Vatican City, the enclave of Rome. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries. These include several well-known Roman sculptures and the most important masterpieces of Renaissance art worldwide. The museums contain roughly 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display, and currently employ 640 people in 40 different administrative, scholarly, and restoration departments.
Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century. The Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling and altar wall decorated by Michelangelo, and the Stanze di Raffaello (decorated by Raphael) are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums.
In 2023, the Vatican Museums were visited by 6.8 million persons. They ranked second in the List of most-visited art museums in the world after the Louvre, third on the list of most-visited museums.
There are 24 galleries, or rooms, in total, with the Sistine Chapel, notably, being the last room visited within the Museum.