On day six we had our final class in Rome. Our next and final class is not until we get back to America. In class we talked about how Christianity rose in the Roman Empire and then when it split in the protestant reformation with Martin Luther. From that point on Christianity has split many times based on people having select beliefs. In international relations we had a discussion on multinational corporations and their effects on third world nations and their culture. In some places they reject the invasion of other cultures and this can lead to violence on foreigners and foreign nations.

On our tours today, we only went to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel but you could spend days going through there and not see everything. Our tour guide told us that if you were to spend one minute looking at every piece of art in the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapel, it would take you 12 years. There are so many amazing pieces of art, all dealing with different aspects of Christianity. The entire museum is designed by Michelangelo and painted by him, his students, and Raphael. Various scenes involve Charlemagne, Jesus and Mary, and various Popes who commissioned different rooms in the Vatican museum. There are also many pagan statues of Apollo, Minerva, and Hercules. These are strange figures since Christianity removed all pagan religions in Europe, America, and parts of Asia.

One of the extremely unique room was the map room that showed various territories that the papacy owned in Italy. We saw the maps from Southern Italy to Northern Italy but we were in the opposite direction from its design. Originally you saw the maps from North to South but they recently changed the entrance to the museum. The map room was the war room for the Pope. The maps have very good detail and it was very interesting to learn that the Church actually engaged in wars and wanted to control all of Italy. It is also very interesting to learn how much the Popes put their names on stuff that they had nothing to do with. They were just the Pope that was alive at the time and the project finished or they needed a portrait of a Pope to be put in the mosaic or painting.