Sistine Chapel ceiling

Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican, seen down the length of the vault toward the altar wall, where his Last Judgment, painted decades later, fills the far end. Pope Julius II commissioned the ceiling, Michelangelo signed the contract on May 8, 1508, and the work was finished by October 31, 1512. Down the center run nine stories from Genesis, the Creation of Adam among them, set inside a framework of painted architecture. The painted ribs, thrones and ledges are so convincing that the prophets and sibyls along the edges seem to sit in real stone niches. Bring binoculars or a zoom lens: the best details are high over your head, and the chapel is usually packed.