The palace of Nicholas V. Continuity and innovation in the Vatican palaces

The Vatican Palace is like a palimpsest, both in the structure both in design and decoration of the interior spaces. Developed as a continuation of a thirteenth century core, the wing of Nicholas V was the first major expansion of the medieval building. The building represents a unique case among the Renaissance residences: the client is the pope, a prince that, ruling as the Successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ and not by dynastic right, needs to renew its image at every election to leave a mark on the city and in the places where the pope resided. The Vatican Palace meets both such requirements: connected to St. Peter, it includes at the same time the settings for private life and for the exercise of temporal power of the highest religious authority of the West – even if with different functional characteristics, which corresponded to significantly different solutions and decoration styles.