Borgia Apartments

Look up before you look anywhere else. The vaults above you hold deep blue, warm gold, and figures in soft greens and reds. Here and there, small details of the paint are raised from the surface and gilded, so they catch the light as you move. The air is cool. The floor carries the steady sound of footsteps heading somewhere else... most visitors are on their way to the Sistine Chapel. For a few minutes, slow down. These rooms belonged to one of the most notorious families in Renaissance Europe.

You are standing in the Borgia Apartments, a suite of rooms inside the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican. They were adapted for Pope Alexander VI, born Rodrigo Borgia, who was elected pope in 1492. That same year, Columbus reached the Caribbean. Rome was a city of rival noble families, building projects, and political deals. Alexander wanted private rooms that would show his power, his learning, and his family name. He did not choose the gentlest way to show it. He chose colour, gold, and a great deal of confidence.

To decorate the rooms, the pope hired the painter Bernardino di Betto, known as Pinturicchio. The nickname means roughly 'the little painter'. He was from Umbria, in central Italy, and he had already worked in Rome. Pinturicchio led a busy workshop, and his assistants painted much of what you see. The main work was done in the early 1490s, and it moved quickly. That speed shows in places. Some faces are delicate and careful. Others are simpler and repeated. Together they make one of the most complete painted interiors of the late fifteenth century.

Notice how the rooms feel different from the frescoes many visitors see later today. Pinturicchio loved surface and ornament. He added raised plaster details, covered them in gold, and set them against bright fields of colour. The effect is closer to a jewellery box than to a calm classical hall. Later critics sometimes called this style old-fashioned. Standing here, it is easy to see why princes loved it. It glows by candlelight, and in a room like this, candlelight was once the only light at night.

The suite is usually described as six rooms, each with its own theme. There is a Hall of the Sibyls, named after the prophetesses of the ancient world. There is a Hall of the Creed, with apostles and prophets holding scrolls. There is a Hall of the Liberal Arts, showing the subjects of a medieval education, like grammar, music, and astronomy. Then come the Hall of the Saints, the Hall of the Mysteries of the Faith, and the Hall of the Popes. The route you follow may not take you through them in this order.

In the Hall of the Saints, look for the largest and busiest scene: the Disputation of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Catherine was an early Christian saint who, according to tradition, argued with pagan philosophers before an emperor. Pinturicchio filled the scene with people in rich costume, horses, and a triumphal arch in the background. Some figures wear turbans and robes from the eastern Mediterranean. Look at the arch. It is based on the Arch of Constantine, which still stands near the Colosseum, a short ride across the city.

Now for a story you will hear often. Locals and guides like to say that the young Saint Catherine has the face of Lucrezia Borgia, the pope's daughter. It is a lovely idea, and it may even be true. But no document confirms it. Treat it as a popular tale, not a fact. What is certain is that this pope placed his family close to the heart of Church power. His children, including Cesare and Lucrezia, became part of the legend that still follows the Borgia name.

Here is a detail most visitors miss. Look at the ceiling of the Hall of the Saints. Instead of only Christian stories, you will find scenes from ancient Egyptian myth. They tell the story of Isis and Osiris, and of Apis, the sacred bull of Egypt. Why Egypt, in a papal palace? The answer is on the Borgia coat of arms. The family symbol was a bull. By linking that bull to a sacred animal of the ancient world, the decoration gave the Borgia emblem a very old and noble ancestry.

In the Hall of the Mysteries of the Faith, the scenes come from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary. In the Resurrection, look for a kneeling man in a heavy, richly decorated cope, a ceremonial cloak. That is Alexander VI himself, painted in profile, with his hands joined in prayer. It is one of the best-known portraits of him. He is shown as a pious man present at the holiest moment of the Christian story. Historians who know his reputation often point out the contrast.

A second surprise sits in the same fresco. During restoration work in recent years, experts drew attention to small figures in the background. Some of them appear to wear feathered headdresses. Several scholars have suggested these may be among the earliest European images of people from the Americas. That would fit the timing, just a few years after Columbus. It remains an interpretation rather than a settled fact. Even so, it is worth searching for them. It is a small window onto a world that was changing fast.

Alexander VI died in 1503. His successor, Pope Julius II, came from a rival family and disliked the Borgia. He refused to live in these rooms. Instead, he moved to the floor above and hired a young painter named Raphael to decorate new rooms there. Those are the Raphael Rooms that so many people visit today. In a way, the most famous rooms upstairs exist because of a grudge against the rooms you are standing in now.

After that, the apartments had a quieter life. They were used for other purposes and were not kept as a showpiece for a long time. Some parts were changed. The ceiling of the Hall of the Popes was later redone with stucco and painted decoration by artists from Raphael's circle. In the late nineteenth century, the rooms were restored and opened to visitors. Today, the suite also holds part of the Vatican's collection of modern religious art, so you may pass paintings from the twentieth century under fifteenth-century vaults.

That mix can feel strange at first. A modern canvas hangs below a Renaissance saint. Yet it also shows how a palace keeps living. These rooms were private, then forgotten, then repaired, and now public. Families from every continent walk under the Borgia bull each day. Many of them do not look up. You can be one of the few who does. Take a moment in the doorway, where the view runs from one room into the next.

Before you move on, look once more at the gold on the walls. It has dimmed in places, and some colours have softened. Still, the raised details catch the light as you shift your weight. Listen to the voices around you, in many languages, all heading the same way. Somewhere ahead is the Sistine Chapel. But here, in these crowded, glittering rooms, one ambitious family tried to paint its name into eternity... and, for better or worse, it worked.