The Apostolic Palace[a] is the official residence of the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, located in Vatican City.

In 1884, when this post was reviewed in light of saving money, Pope Leo XIII created a committee to administer the palace.

The palace is more accurately a series of self-contained buildings within the well-recognized outer structure which is arranged around the Courtyard of Sixtus V (Cortile di Sisto V).

It is located northeast of St Peter's Basilica and adjacent to the Bastion of Nicholas V and Palace of Gregory XIII.

It is famous for its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and others.

Following Raphael's death in 1520, his assistants Gianfrancesco Penni, Giulio Romano and Raffaellino del Colle finished the project with the frescoes in the Sala di Costantino.

The Borgia Apartments is a suite of rooms in the palace adapted for personal use by Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo de Borja).

The paintings and frescoes, which were executed between 1492 and 1494, drew on a complex iconographic program that used themes from medieval encyclopedias, adding an eschatological layer of meaning and celebrating the supposedly divine origins of the Borgias.

The loggias are corridors designed by Donato Bramante and decorated by Raphael with frescoes, which depict 52 biblical events divided into bays in groups of four.