Apostolic Palace

In the fifth century Pope Symmachus built a papal residence beside Old St Peter's as an alternative to the Lateran, holding councils and consistories there; the popes had lived at the Lateran since the early fourth century. A second, fortified palace was sponsored by Pope Eugene III and heavily altered under Innocent III in the twelfth century, and under Nicholas III (1277–1280) a square two-storey medieval building went up next to the old basilica around the Cortile dei Pappagalli, though it was still not the main papal residence.

When the papacy returned to Rome in 1377 after Avignon, the popes lodged first at Santa Maria in Trastevere and then at Santa Maria Maggiore. The Vatican palace had decayed for want of upkeep, and fires at the Lateran in 1307 and 1361 had done irreparable harm. In 1447 Nicholas V razed Eugene III's fortified palace to raise the building that became the present Apostolic Palace, and around 1450 added a round defensive tower, the Torrione di Niccolò V, which now houses the Istituto per le Opere di Religione.

Sixtus IV rebuilt the palace chapel that carries his name to a design of 1473 by Baccio Pontelli. Work began in 1477 under Giovannino de' Dolci on the foundations and sound lower walls of the older room, which is thought to account for its irregular plan, and the first mass was said on 15 August 1483, the chapel being dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin. One of its primary functions is as the venue for the conclave in which the College of Cardinals elects each new pope. Botticelli, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Ghirlandaio and others frescoed the walls; Michelangelo signed for the ceiling in 1508 and had finished by 31 October 1512.

Alexander VI commissioned Pinturicchio to decorate his own apartments, painted between 1492 and 1494 on a programme that celebrated the supposedly divine origins of the Borgias. Julius II commissioned Raphael in 1508 or 1509 to redecorate the rooms directly above them, possibly to outshine the apartments of his predecessor and rival. Leo X carried the work on after Julius died in 1513, and after Raphael's death in 1520 his assistants Gianfrancesco Penni, Giulio Romano and Raffaellino del Colle finished the Sala di Costantino. The palace loggias, designed by Donato Bramante, were painted by Raphael with 52 biblical scenes set in bays in groups of four.

Paul III had a second chapel built beside the Sistine to hold the Blessed Sacrament, entrusting it to Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, whom he had made architect of all the papal works in 1536. The Cappella Paolina was built between 1537 and 1540 and consecrated on 25 January 1540, the feast of the Conversion of St Paul. Michelangelo, by then past sixty, painted its Conversion of Saul between 1542 and 1545 and its Crucifixion of Peter between 1546 and 1550.

Work on the palace in its present form began on 30 April 1589 under Sixtus V, who built most of its present form, and the Vatican still calls the building the Palace of Sixtus V. His successors Urban VII, Innocent XI and Clement VIII completed the various parts; Clement VIII established the Clementine Hall in honour of Clement I. Construction of the palace fell mainly between 1471 and 1605; the building covers 162,000 square metres.

The apostolic prefecture that had run the palace since the fifteenth century lasted until the 1800s, when the Papal States fell into economic difficulties; in 1884, with the post under review to save money, Leo XIII created a committee to administer the palace instead. In the twentieth century Pius XI built a monumental art gallery and museum entrance.

The papal apartments, occupying much of the top floor, have been the official residence since the seventeenth century, and every reigning pope has lived in the palace since the move from the Quirinal in 1870 except Francis, who took up residence in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Pope Leo XIV moved into the apartments on 14 March 2026 after renovation work was completed.

The palace belongs to the Holy See and is run by the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household. Visitors reach the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, the Raphael Rooms and the Borgia Apartments, where some rooms hold the Vatican Collection of Modern Religious Art inaugurated by Paul VI in 1973 and a permanent contemporary art gallery installed in November 2021. The Sala Regia, long closed, admitted occasional tourism by 2019; the Cappella Paolina is not open to tourists.