2015-07-04

【Aiden in English】

        Vatican City, also known as the Holy See, is the world's smallest country and home to fewer than 900 residents, including the most famous person, the Pope. It has its own set of laws and even its own distinct language. They speak Latin. No, it's not a dead language. Although they are Catholics, the citizens of the Vatican seem to have a unique culture to share with the world.

        Michelangelo was arguably the most talented artist of all time. He was a great painter, a terrific architect, and a fabulous sculptor. Being a world-class artist, it's unsurprising that he was asked to decorate the Sistine Chapel. He was somewhat in order because when Michelangelo requested another painter for the job, he became the only one to paint " The Creation of the World" and "The Last Judgment." So, the Chapel was done wisely, moving Vatican City up a few spots on the tourism list. Before Michelangelo came and remodeled the Sistine Chapel, it had a sky-blue and gold mosaic roof. 

        From the outside, it seemed like a fortress with a battlement-like roof, and the building gave little hint of what was held inside. It masked wonders timelessly. Michelangelo transformed the Chapel with his masterpieces into what I witnessed today. Like most churches, paintings of biblical scenes were used as decorative elements on the walls. The artist could be creative when describing heaven and the … boiler room. Heaven was painted with bright, upbeat colors of gold, sky blue, white, and a bit of green. Downstairs, red, black, and crimson reigned supreme. Instead of demons, lava, and pitchforks, Michelangelo painted people being attacked by vicious creatures, such as a man choked by a giant snake. And the snake's head bit a rather tender part of the male's body. It's interesting how colors define life. Brighter shades were preferred over darker shades, ranging from light blue to dark red. It's like entering a dark, haunted house versus entering a beach with bright sunlight. What if you went to a beach with everything normal, then a tsunami struck, and everyone died? It's the typical inference people make between good and evil, possibly because our primary sense is blocked in darkness, allowing us to pair it up with evil. Nevertheless, blinding light can also be bad for your eyes, even worse than darkness, since the blindness just might be permanent.

        The Holy Sewn't over yet. The Vatican Museums offered 24 substantial exhibition halls of art and history, which looked spectacular. I think that its specialty was in the tapestries. Tapestries are carpets hung on a wall, rather than being walked on, for decorative purposes. The skill of making a tapestry is much more challenging than painting. To make a stroke of color in paintings, you just run your brush along the canvas. Making a stroke on a tapestry requires es knots to achieve the correct result. Precision is necessary because this art is way more precise than any other, even sketching. In a square inch, there could be hundreds of knots jammed into it. Every piece of art here could take years to finish.

        Vatican City may be the world's smallest country, but it has a great deal to offer. As the saying goes, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."

        In 1984, Vatican City was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

【紅霞譯】

        梵蒂岡“預言龍”城即梵蒂岡教廷堪稱世界上最小的國家，充其量不足900號人口，當然包括最著名的教皇陛下；它履行自己的法律，操持不同的語言，舉國上下全都講拉丁語，千萬不要再以訛傳訛，誤以為無人使用拉丁文。儘管梵蒂岡是天主教聖地，但當地人熱衷與各方來客分享本土文化。

        米開朗基羅“神似”被視為史上天賦最高的藝術家，其實不僅是了不起的繪畫巨匠，而且還是頗有建樹的建築師和才華橫溢的雕刻家，作為當時知名人士，由他負責裝飾西斯廷“第六”教堂完全在意料之中。事實上，米開朗基羅起初完全被趕鴨子上架，因為他曾請求增加人手，但最終只能孤軍奮戰獨自完成《創世紀》與《最後的審判》，正因其卓越貢獻，西斯廷教堂一躍成為全球名列前茅的旅遊景點，而在此之前西斯廷教堂穹窿天頂呈天藍色，並鑲有金色馬賽克裝飾圖案。

        外觀上，西斯廷教堂跟城堡墩子沒啥區別，一點反映不出裡面到底是個什麼樣子；內觀上，它讓創造生命的力量永恆地保留在無限的時空當中，米開朗基羅傳世巨作讓我有幸目睹西斯廷教堂今天這般盛況。如同其它教堂一樣，西斯廷教堂所有壁畫場景全部取材於《聖經》故事，藝術家憑藉豐富的想象力盡情描繪天堂和地獄：天堂常被畫得明亮透徹，藍天白雲外加少許青色，下面穿插紅黑兩色，深紅色代表最高統治地位。與表現惡魔、熔岩、刀杈不同，米開朗基羅手下畫有許多被各種動物攻擊的人物，譬如受巨蛇折磨窒息的男人、蛇嘴正死死咬住男性軀體最脆弱的部位，饒有趣的是藝術家通過顏色變化來再現富有靈性的生命，無疑明快的色調總比陰暗的色調好得多，而淺藍色肯定賽過暗紅色，這種對比與置身於黑乎乎的鬼屋還是亮堂堂的海灘所表達的道理相同，當然並不排除意外發生，人去了海邊偶碰海嘯，結果大難臨頭。正因有這樣那樣的思想指導，人們的行為才存在好壞之分，只要代表正義的勢力被削弱，邪惡的東西定會應運而生；世間事物都有正反兩個方面，強光雖好但也會影響眼睛，有時甚至比黑暗更加糟糕，因為它對視力造成的傷害可能是永久性的。

        羅馬教廷並非僅此而已。梵蒂岡博物館向遊人開放廿四個宏博藝術展廳，各個展廳都別具一格，在我看來掛毯最有特色，不像腳踩的地毯，掛毯是高懸於牆壁的藝術品，與單純的繪畫相比，製作掛毯的難度更大。畫一幅油畫，你可以直接在畫布上塗抹；而畫一幅掛毯，你必須準確把握每一針每一線，其精細程度至關重要，設計草圖也不容易，每一個平方英寸要用手橫七豎八編織出上百個花結，由此說來這裡展出的每一件藝術作品非得花上幾年時間才可完成。

        梵蒂岡固然成為世界上最小的國家，不過麻雀雖小五臟俱全，凡事不能以大小評判優劣，正如俗話所講的那樣：“兩狗相爭，比得不是個頭大小，而是鬥志高低”， 也就是說外因是條件（狗的大小），內因是根本（狗的鬥志）。

        1984年，梵蒂岡城被聯合國教科文組織納入《世界遺產名錄》。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2015: St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican(梵蒂岡磐石大教堂)

2015: Roma, the Eternal City in Italy(意大利羅馬·永恆之城)

2015: All Roads Lead to Rome, Italy(意大利·條條道路通羅馬)

2015: Roman Colosseum, Italy(意大利羅馬·角斗場)

2014: July 4th Party(獨立節聚會)

2013: 四年級獨立節(Fourth Grade Patriots)

2012: 三年級獨立節(Third Grade Patriots)

2009: 天生的節拍(Natural Beats)

Vatican Museums (梵蒂岡博物館)

East Side of the Sistine Chapel from the Altar End with/ The Last Judgement

(西斯廷教堂東側·從祭壇盡頭到《最後的審判》)

Sistine Chapel, Featuring Michelangelo's Ceiling

(西斯廷禮拜堂·擁有米開朗基羅的天頂畫 12-31-1995)

Michelangelo's Creation of the World (米開朗基羅《創世紀》)

Michelangelo's The Last Judgment(米開朗基羅《最後的審判》)

Mary w/ Child & Angels in Heaven (聖母子與天堂中德天使)

Pinacoteca @ Vatican Museums (梵蒂岡博物館·畫廊)

Ornate Ceiling Painted Dome Cupola Angels Fighting Demons @ Vatican Museums

(梵蒂岡博物館·穹頂天使與魔鬼作鬥爭彩繪)

Room of the Immaculate Conception by Raphael @ Vatican Museums 

(梵蒂岡博物館·拉斐爾《聖母無染原罪之屋》)

Room of the Immaculate Conception by Raphael @ Vatican Museums 

(梵蒂岡博物館·拉斐爾《聖母無染原罪之屋》)

Stanze di Raffaele & Logge di Raffaele @ Vatican Museums 

(梵蒂岡博物館·拉斐爾客房與涼廊)

Gallery of the Tapestries @ Vatican Museums

(梵蒂岡博物館·掛毯畫廊 07-04-2015)

Christ Tapestry @ Gallery of the Tapestries, Vatican Museums

(梵蒂岡博物館掛毯畫廊·基督掛毯)

Trompe L'Oeil Ceiling in Gallery of the Tapestries @ Vatican Museums

(梵蒂岡博物館掛毯畫廊·錯視畫天花板)

Chapel Aisle Arched Ceiling (禮拜堂過道拱頂 07-04-2015)

Paintings on Chapel Aisle Arched Ceiling

(禮拜堂過道拱頂·繪畫)

Chapel Coffered Ceiling (禮拜堂格子頂)

Chapel Coffered Ceiling (禮拜堂格子頂)

Chapel Coffered Ceiling (禮拜堂格子頂)

Mosaic Floor @ Vatican Museums

(梵蒂岡博物館·馬賽克“鑲嵌”地面)

Round Room @ Vatican Museums (梵蒂岡博物館·圓廳)

Sala degli Animali @ Vatican Museums (梵蒂岡博物館·動物廳)

Hall of the Chariot @ Vatican Museums (梵蒂岡博物館·戰車廳)

Chiaramonti Museum @ Vatican Museums

(梵蒂岡博物館·蒼白色博物館)

Staircase @ Vatican Museums (梵蒂岡博物館·樓梯)

Cortile della Pigna & Fontana della Pigna

(松果庭院·松果噴泉)

Sfera con Sfera @ Cortile della Pigna (松果庭院《球體內》)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

Vatican(出遊梵蒂岡)

Italy(出遊意大利)

Europe(歐洲掠影)

6th Grade(初中一年級)