They were created from the collections of artwork amassed by successive popes, beginning in the 16th century, and are associated with the figures of Popes Sixtus IV and Julius II. The first significant exhibit with which the museum’s collection began was the ancient sculpture Laocoon Group, discovered in 1506 in a vineyard near the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The sculpture was purchased by Pope Julius II from the owner of the vineyard, on the recommendation of Michelangelo and Giuliano da Sangallo. The Pope made this sculpture, as well as his private collection of sculptures, available for public exhibition at the Vatican. Also purchased at the time was one of the most valuable works in the museum’s collection, a sculpture of Apollo, which came to be known as the Apollo of Belvedere, as well as the Torso of Belvedere, a 1st century BC Greek sculpture of Apollonios of Athens, which became a source of inspiration for Michelangelo.
The official opening of the Vatican Museums as the Christian Museum took place under the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV in 1757.
