The Florentine artist spent four years painting the challenging chapel against his will, but would have much rather been sculpting - Lucas Schifres/Getty Images Contributor Michelangelo never wanted ...

As the papal conclave is set to begin to elect a new pope, the eyes of the world are on the Sistine Chapel, which will hold the Catholic cardinals as they cast their votes for the next leader of the ...

Perhaps second only in fame to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Michelangelo's magnificent frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel opened to the public for the first time 500 years ago this week ...

Workers install stove in Sistine Chapel that will produce the white smoke. VATICAN CITY March 6, 2013— -- The Vatican prepared the Sistine Chapel today for the election of a new pope by ...

VATICAN CITY — Black smoke streamed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday morning in Rome, signaling that the 133 cardinal electors have not come to a two-thirds agreement about who the ...