Pope Sixtus IV had the chapel built between 1473 and 1481, and it carries his name. The architect Baccio Pontelli designed it, and Giovannino de Dolci supervised the work. It is a tall hall about 134 feet (40.9 m) long, 44 feet (13.4 m) wide and 68 feet (20.7 m) high, lit by six arched windows down each side. The exterior has no decoration, and large buttresses were added when the walls began to subside.
Inside, the walls were painted in 1481 and 1482 by Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Perugino, Rosselli and their workshops. A marble screen divides the chapel, and the floor is a pattern of marble and colored stone. Michelangelo painted the ceiling between 1508 and 1512, and later the Last Judgment over the altar, finished in 1541.
The chapel is where cardinals vote in a papal conclave, and white smoke from its chimney announces a new pope. The ceiling was restored from 1984 to 1994.
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