Sistine Chapel

Principal chapel in the Vatican, Rome, begun under Pope Sixtus IV in 1473 by Giovanni del Dolci, and decorated by (among others) Michelangelo. The voting of the cardinals at the election of a new pope takes place in the Sistine Chapel.

Built to the proportions of Solomon's temple in the Old Testament (its height one-half and its width one-third of its length), it has frescoes on the walls (emphasizing the authority and legality of the papacy) by Botticelli and Ghirlandaio and, on the altar wall and ceiling, by Michelangelo. The chapel also contains work by by Perugino and Pinturicchio.