Vatican Museums

Protecting and Preserving the cultural Patrimony of the Church

The Vatican Museums are one of the greatest repositories of art and culture in the entire world. With its origins firmly rooted in papal patronage, founded by Pope Julius II in 1506, it not only displays many of the greatest masterpieces of art but its rooms were the working studios of some of the world’s greatest artists, Michelangelo and Raphael to name but two. The Museums contains over 70,000 works, a third of which are displayed in 54 galleries.

Our founder John McCaffrey has been involved in pro bono work with the Museums since 1995. In the 2000s he was responsible for raising much of the funding for the restoration of the iconic masterpiece the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, which holds Michelangelo’s last two frescoes. The chapel was rededicated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008. Pope Benedict made John a Knight Commander of Saint Gregory the Great in recognition of his work. 

Since its inception, the Galileo Foundation has continued John’s link with the Museums through the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, identifying and supporting  key restoration projects. These have included restoration of a Raphael tapestry, the Papal Telescope at the Papal Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer palace outside Rome (see Papal Observatory), and the Illumination of the Solar System also now housed in Castel Gandolfo.

Current projects include the restoration of the Banner of the Nobel Guard of His Holiness Pope Pius VII, dating from 1801, and L’Arbre de vie by Henri Matisse, a study made for the apse of the Rosary Chapel in Venice between 1949 and 1951.   

To find out more about the Vatican Museums, please visit www.patrons.va.