Apostolic Palace

The Apostolic Palace is the official residence of the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, located in Vatican City. It is also known as the Papal Palace, the Palace of the Vatican and the Vatican Palace. The Vatican itself refers to the building as the Palace of Sixtus V, in honor of Pope Sixtus V, who built most of the present form of the palace.

The building contains the papal apartments, various offices of the Catholic Church and the Holy See, private and public chapels, the Vatican Museums, and the Vatican Library, including the Sistine Chapel, Raphael Rooms, and the Borgia Apartments. Tourists can see this part of the palace, but other parts, such as the Sala Regia (Regal Room) and Cappella Paolina, had long been closed to tourists, though the Sala Regia allowed occasional tourism by 2019. The Scala Regia (Regal Staircase) can be viewed from one end and used to enter the Sala Regia. The Cappella Paolina remains closed to tourists.

Text adapted from “Apostolic Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Apostolic Palace ranks #40 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #1 of the 2 mapped in Vatican City. Founded 1589, it is older than 35% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 718 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 44,753 times in the last 60 days, more than 99% of the atlas. 63 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Rome, 2 km away. See how Vatican City compares in the castle statistics.

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