Rome Guide
Rome
Museo Pio-Clementino
Address: Vatican museum complex, Viale Vaticano, a fifteen-minute walk from St Peter's
Opening time: Mon– Sat 8.30am–4pm; closed Sun, hols & religious hols, except the last Sun of each month
Price: €14; free the last Sun of each month
Website: www.vatican.va
The Museo Pio-Clementino is home to some of the best of the Vatican's classical statuary, including two statues that influenced Renaissance artists more than any others, the serene Apollo Belvedere, a Roman copy of a fourth-century BC original, and the first century BC Laocoön, which shows a Trojan priest being crushed by serpents for warning of the danger of the Trojan horse – perhaps the most famous classical statue ever. There are also busts and statues of the Roman emperors, fantastic Roman floor mosaics, and the so-called Venus of Cnidos, the first known representation of the goddess.