In the Footsteps of Peter: The Museums & the Buildings of Vatican City

Although a visit to Vatican City would be a wonderful experience, this ambitious and handsomely packaged 8-volume roam through the city's museums and buildings is a) much less expensive than a real trip, b) offers a guided tour, and c) uses supporting contextual footage not found in your Fodor (print) handbook. We watched the sixth volume, The Ethnological Museum & The Picture Gallery, which featured a host of well-known (and lesser known) artworks chronicling, in essence, the pictorial history of Christianity, as well as a fascinating overview of comparative in non-European cultures (examining death rites, conceptions of deities, and worship habits). As the program traces the early seeds of Christianity in these colonized countries, the artistic artifacts shown (initially, copies of European Christian symbolism), gradually give way to indigenous interpretations of Christianity. In one notable and symbolically complex example, we see a beautifully carved crucifix which depicts Christ bound to a cross comprised of African slaves. A thought-provoking series, this is sure to be quite popular in both academic and general collections. Other titles in the series include: Greek & Egyptian Art in the Vatican Museums, The Origins of Christian Art & The Sistine Chapel, and Vatican City & The Great Basilica. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)