Sistine Chapel ceiling Rome to continue sculpting. The tomb sculptures, however, were never to be finished because in 1508 the pope returned to Rome victorious and summoned Michelangelo to begin work on the ceiling. The contract was signed on 10 May 1508. The scheme proposed by the pope was for twelve large figures of the Apostles to occupy the pendentives. However, Michelangelo negotiated for a grander, much more complex scheme and was finally permitted, in his own words, "to do as I liked". His scheme for the ceiling eventually comprised some three hundred figures and took four years to execute, being completed and
Sistine Chapel Choir Michael's Cathedral Basilica. Sistine Chapel Choir The Sistine Chapel Choir, as it is generally called in English, or properly the "Coro della Cappella Musicale Pontificia" in Italian, is one of the oldest choirs in the world, having been formally active since 1471. Based in Vatican City, it normally comprises twenty men (tenors and basses) and thirty boys (sopranos and altos), the latter receiving free tuition. As early as in the pontificate of Sylvester I (314–35), a regularly constituted company of singers, under the name of "schola cantorum", lived together in a building devoted to their exclusive use. The word ""schola""