The construction of the Sistine Chapel was due precisely to a Jubilee, that of 1475 announced by Pope Sixtus IV.admired every year by almost 7 million visitors (25 thousand a day) who line up to contemplate this and the other treasures of Vatican Museums: the Rooms And Raphael’s Loggia, the Roman marbles, the Gregorian Egyptian and Etruscan Museums, the Gallery of tapestries, the Gallery of candelabra, theBorgia Apartment and that dSaint Pius V, and we could go on for a long time.
A treasure beyond 200 thousand works present in the collections, 20 thousand of which are exposed along the 7 kilometers of the route museum.
Art as a way to contemplate the beauty of faith. This is one of the keys to the future Jubilee as demonstrated by the many initiatives of the event Jubilee is culture to bring art to various places in the city. On this ideal path, let’s start from Vatican Museums, where particularly significant objects are displayed in a showcase located along the Urban VIII Gallery to rediscover the history, ceremonial and the liturgies of the Holy Years.
The following belong to the Decorative Arts Department of the pontifical collections: bricks, hammers, trowels, signs, objects used by pilgrims over the centuries.
«The Jubilee of 1300 announced by Boniface VIII», explained the curator Luca Pesante, «He brought Rome back to the center of the world, bringing about a spiritual rebirth of the city also thanks to the presence of the relics of Christ and the martyrs. If the keys are the sign of the power of the apostle Peter and his successesre, the Holy Door is the main symbol of the Jubilee Year: only those who cross it will obtain the plenary indulgence of the Jubilee».
JUBILEE 2025 AT THE VATICAN MUSEUMS: THE EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO BERNINI
Among the (many) initiatives of the Museums is the exhibition, open until January 31st in the Vatican Pinacoteca, Of two early sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini made in 1619: the blessed Soul and the damned Soul, kept by the Spanish Embassy in Italy.
«We are preparing to welcome pilgrims in the best possible way», explained the director of the Vatican Museums, Barbara Jatta, presenting the Jubilee initiatives, «also using new methodologies and access methods we want to offer an increasingly spiritual journey. As Pope Francis teaches us, we want to ensure that each of our many visitors can find in our works not only something aesthetic – because we are clearly a museum – but also deeply touching from a spiritual point of view.”
If in the St. Peter’s Basilica pilgrims, after crossing the Holy Door, will be able to admire the sumptuous Bernin canopyi which surmounts the main altar of the Vatican basilica restored in recent months 250 years since the last time, here is the Jubilee, in the city which is an open-air museum and where the arrival of 30 million pilgrims is expected, enriches with other extraordinary works.
THE WHITE CRUCIFIXION BY MARC CHAGALL
Like the exhibition, the first ever in Italy, of White Crucifixion by Marc Chagall. The work comes from The Art Institute of Chicago and it will be visitable until 27 January 2025 in the new Museo del Corso – Museum complex at Palazzo Cipolla.
The choice of this work by Chagall is not accidental, as Monsignor explained Rino Fisichella, “director” of the organization of the Holy Year on behalf of the Pope, because the artist painted it after Kristallnacht, when in 1938 in Germany and Austria the Nazi fury set hundreds of synagogues on fire and destroyed homes and thousands of businesses run by Jews.
Chagall’s goal was to denounce the hatred and horrors of the 20th century perpetrated against the Jewish community and for this reason paints on the Crucifix the breaking of a light from above as a powerful sign of evil that does not darken the world thanks to the love of God which manifests itself in his Son put on the cross.
It is no coincidence that this painting, with its strong message of defense of human dignity and dialogue between cultures, is one of Pope Francis’ most loved works.
Another jubilee event is theexhibition of some rare icons owned by the Vatican Museums in the magnificent Borromini’s sacristy in the church of Sant’Agnese in Piazza Navona (until 16 February). The symbolism of the icon reflects the life of the Church, a history of traditions which from generation to generation has been able to transmit not only the faith, but along with it the technique, the colors and the appearance.
The Museums collection is very rich and varied. There are eighteen works selected by the curators and, explained Jatta, «they were chosen from across the entire area of Christian Eastern Europe: Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Macedonia. We called them icons of hope, in line with the theme of the Jubilee, precisely because they are a vehicle of peace, of brotherhood, as demonstrated by the mix of styles. Putting them all together is equivalent to saying that we are all bearers of the same message.”
The 2025 Jubilee Calendar
After the opening of the Holy Doors, which will give the official start, the first major event of the Jubilee is scheduled from 24 to 26 January for journalists and communication operators.
In mid-February the Jubilee of artistson 8 and 9 March that of volunteeringin April the sick people and healthcare workers, in May the event dedicated tothe workers and to entrepreneurs, in June the Jubilee of sport, at the end of July the one dedicated to digital missionaries And Catholic influencers, in October the one for i migrants. The last one is scheduled for December 14th with Jubilee of prisoners.
The complete calendar of events (currently 26) can be consulted at www.iubilaeum2025.va/it/pellegrinaggio/calendario-giubileo.html
(Photo above: the Pope contemplates and meditates in front of the White Crucifixion by Marc Chagall, during the significant visit on 8 December. Source: ANSA)
