Don’t worry; despite what the above photo implies, you won’t need to bring protection from plagues or rains of fire at the Vatican’s “Apocalypse” exhibition. Msnbc is calling the exhibit — a collection of works ranging from the 4th to the 20th centuries — “unusually bright:” “while ‘The Apocalypse’ usually evokes Doomsday visions, remarkably few monsters and sword-bearing angels populate the works on display.” Instead, organizer Alessio Geretti told reporters, the exhibit is reviving a view of The Book of Revelation as “a book of hope.”
Works on display include masterpieces from the Louvre, Capilla Real, National Galleries in Berlin, Budapest and Warsaw, and St. Marc’s Basilica in Venice. Artists include Salvador Dali and El Greco.
The exhibition runs through Dec. 7 and is part of the normal tour of the Vatican Museums.
Thanks to Micah A. Ponce on Flickr for the slightly scary but definitely awesome photo.