The Vatican Rome

The Vatican neighborhood was once the site of Emperor Nero’s circus and a place where Christians, including St Peter, were martyred. Today it is the center of the Catholic Church and home to the Pope. Since 1929 the Vatican has also been a state within a city, complete with its own pike-wielding army – the Swiss Guard. The smallest independent country in the world holds the treasures of the Vatican Museum with its remarkable Sistine Chapel by Raphael. A long wall connects the Vatican with Castel Sant’Angelo or the Mausoleum of Hadrian as it’s real name is. Built as a tomb for the Emperor Hadrian, later used as a fortress by the popes, it is today a museum.