Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition San Francisco — Attraction in San Francisco

In October, my wife and I attended the Sistine Chapel exhibit at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco. Beautiful clear, mild day for witnessing this display. We are fortunate to have visited the Vatican while in Rome, so this exhibit we were so looking forward seeing. In the Vatican when touring the Sistine Chapel you are moved through at a rather fast pace with no flash photo's. It is difficult to see the details of the paintings as they are on the ceiling of a room that is perhaps 3+ stories tall.

We did not go for the VIP or tape set, as there was no clear information as to what you get for the extra funds for VIP. I agree with many of other reviewers about unorganized from ticket purchase through exit. We were to go in at 1:30PM. Info email didn't specifically indicate where exhibit was, we are not familiar with the different rooms within the Cathedral so it took a bit longer finding the show entrance. We were in line awaiting our time, but had to wait about 20-25 mins for others to exit. But again nothing indicating where to wait for general or VIP, no clear signs!! Within the actual display there is an area on one side with a projector and folding chairs but again no info at front to let you decide if it was something we could have heard further about the art. It would have helped to have known when we first had our ticket checked.

The details of each painting were crystal clear. That is when you realize the people and surroundings painted by Michelangelo are about 4-5 times the size of a normal human. That is because when you are on the floor in the Sistine Chapel you see them as the same size as a human, but if they were human size on a ceiling some 3+ stories they would look so small, like ants.

If it comes to a town near you, we hope you too are able to see this exhibit. Enjoy the beautiful bright colors and fine details you can't...

I loved the exhibit itself, though I think it would have been fun had the images been even a bit larger. I also would have liked to have seen the "overlap" where the frames connected at the arches; the banner-like images were separated by a few feet and it would have been nice to get a better idea of their flow. It's very unlikely I'll ever get to the Sistine Chapel, but I was able to see all the beautiful paintings quite clearly. I found it endearing that on some framing trompe l'oiel arches, Michelangelo filled in detailed swirls and acorns, fully rendered with shadows. But on other arches he was obviously tired, and sick of the whole thing; they're barely a suggestion :-D What a labor of love, and what a genius! My neck hurt a little from looking up by the end; can you imagine how he must have felt, painting for years?

We had one of the last bookings of the day, and it was quite dark. There was NO online info about parking that I could find, which in San Francisco is quite the faux pas! So we parked on Geary, since we weren't sure if the lot was available. We saw little signage about the exhibit, no signage about parking, and the church grounds were pretty dark. So we did some wandering around, wondering if the exhibit had been canceled before we found the back of the church. IMPROVE THE SIGNAGE!

Also since it was near the end of the day, the gift shop was closed. Bummer. I wanted some swag.

We WERE checked for temperature and required to...

This is a wonderful exhibit whether one has been to the Sistine Chapel  in the Vatican before or not. To see the images that Michaelangelo painted replicated and blown up  allowed me to really see the details, colors and brushstrokes, making for a really enjoyable and educational experience, especially when reading the informational panels accompanying every picture. When you enter the exhibit hall, which is the basement of Saint Mary's Cathedral, since each image is placed where it's placed in the  Sistine Chapel makes the exhibit especially cool. Of the several times I visited the Vatican and walked through the Sistine Chapel,  because of the crowds in a hurry to get through as well as the paintings being so high above me, I could never really look at and really see and comprehend Michaelangelo's  masterpieces. The tranquility that comes with the near silence as one walks through this exhibit adds to the depth and pleasure of contemplating the magnificence of what one is seeing. Thank goodness there wasn't distracting background music.  It's worthwhile to see the entire video that shows how Michaelangelo created this wonder. Although I'm uploading many of my photos, one really should allow  oneself the magnificence of the experience of walking through the Sistine Chapel exhibit before it...