Pope Julius II founded the Vatican Museums. The origin is linked to Laocoön and His Sons, found on January 14, 1506, which the pope bought and displayed a month later. In 1771 Clement XIV founded the Museo Pio-Clementino in Innocent VIII's Belvedere Palace, and Pius VI completed it.
The route passes the Raphael Rooms, which hold The School of Athens, painted from 1509 to 1511, and the Gallery of Maps, painted by Ignazio Danti for Gregory XIII between 1572 and 1585. The Sistine Chapel, decorated by Michelangelo, is the last room. Giuseppe Momo designed the Bramante Staircase, a double helix around a stairwell about 49 feet (15 m) wide, in 1932. In the same year Luca Beltrami's picture gallery was inaugurated, on October 27. Raffaele Stern built the Braccio Nuovo.
There are 24 galleries or rooms in all. The museums had 6,825,436 visitors in 2024, second among museums worldwide after the Louvre.
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