The Vatican Museums (Italian: Musei Vaticani) are the museums of the Vatican City and are located within the city's boundaries. They display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world.
Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century. The Sistine Chapel with its ceiling decorated by Michelangelo and the Stanze della Segnatura decorated by Raphael are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums. They were visited by 4,310,083 people in the year 2007.[1] The Vatican Museums broke attendance records in 2011 with just over 5 million people.
There are 54 galleries, or salas, in total,[citation needed] with the Sistine Chapel, notably, being the very last sala within the Museum – visitors need to proceed through the other 53 salas before earning their reward with access to the Sistine.[citation needed]