The Vatican

Vatican, armillary sphere

A beautiful armillary sphere, or spherical astrolabe if you prefer. I rather like these things, because it shows how a model can be elegant, accurate, useful, and entirely wrong. The Earth is depicted at the center and the sun, moon, stars, and planets move around it.

Vatican, armillary sphere

A close look at the detail of another armillary sphere.

Vatican, stone table

A table with beautiful pieces of inlaid stone. Please ignore the sheep.

Vatican, stone table

Perhaps an even better example of the same idea.

Vatican, lionhead statue

Anytime someone doesn't want you to get a look at something, it's probably worth getting a look at it. This statue and its pair were at the end of a hallway, blocked off from viewing. I was able to wiggle my camera around to get a close-up of this one, but the other one came out a bit blurry. It is without a doubt an odd piece, and looks decidedly pagan, despite the modest addition of a fig leaf to its crotch.

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