# Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel

- Institution: Gresham College
- Speaker: Dr Valerie Shrimplin
- Year: 2014
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: History, Religion, Literature and writing, Art, architecture and design
- Source: [Gresham College](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/michelangelo-copernicus-and-sistine-chapel)
- Licence: [Educational use (Gresham College's terms)](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/terms-and-conditions)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

It is argued that Copernicus’ theory of the sun-centred universe is a key underlying theme in Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo's revolutionary design, depicting Christ as an Apollonian 'sun-god' positioned in the centre of a dramatic circular composition, seems relate to Copernicus’s theory of the sun-centred universe - providing important evidence of papal support for Copernican heliocentricity as early as the 1530s.

## Lectures

1. [Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/gresham/michelangelo-copernicus-and-sistine-chapel/7a30aa0b01ce) (YouTube)