Vatican: Vatican Museums – Geographic Gallery
This gallery in particular stalled me for a good hour. For a traveler obsessed with maps – this was incredible. The 40-panel gallery of topographical maps of Italy was painted in 1580-83 on the orders of Pope Gregory XIII by fryar and geographer Ignazio Danti. Each panel shows a region and its main city with intricate detail (maps are supposedly around 80% accurate, which is not bad for 500 years ago). Even more incredible are the vaulted ceilings that are illuminated with yellow light that gives the entire gallery a tunnel-like futuristic feel. One day, when I make a museum of all my travels, I am gonna model it on this gallery….
