Pio Clementino Museum

The Pio Clementino Museum is the largest complex of the Vatican Museums and owes its name to its founders: Pope Clement XIV who acquired the Mattei and Fusconi collections in 1771, and Pope Pius VI, who enlarged it and gave it a monumental entrance with the Atrium of the Four Gates and the Simonetti Staircase.

It houses the most important Greek and Roman masterpieces in 12 rooms. The museum also includes the Octagonal Court, which used to be known as the Cortile delle Statue; it housed the first real collection of classical sculptures in the Vatican. Among the main sculptures are the statue of Laocoön and the Apollo Belvedere..

The main rooms are the Gallery of Statues with the walls frescoed by Pinturicchio, the Hall of Busts with the busts of the Roman emperors, the Round Hall with the imposing gilded bronze statue of Hercules, the Greek Cross Hall decorated with a central mosaic and two huge sarcophagi and the Hall of Animals.

The Simonetti Staircase connects you to the Gregorian Egyptian Museum.