Among the many excellent Vatican Museums is the Museum of Vatican History. In 1973, Pope Paul established the Historical Museum for the first time. The collection was housed in a square garden below ground level. It wasn't until March 1991 that it was once more open to the public, being moved to the Lateran Apostolic Palace's main floor in 1987. Pope Julius II established the Vatican City Museums for the first time in 1503. From the private collections of affluent families, the museum's collection of artworks expanded to include public holdings from the future pope and subsequent popes. The Vatican Museum of History was founded as a result of the vast collection held by the Vatican Museums and the increasing demand for more structures to store the artwork.

The chapel's dimensions are around 35 meters (118 feet) by 14 meters (46 feet)[15], and its ceiling rises to a height of roughly 20 meters (66 feet) above the ground level. Like many other Italian churches from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, its exterior is devoid of any architectural or ornamental accents. It does not have an external facade or exterior processional doors because it has always been accessed through interior chambers of the Apostolic Palace, with the outside only visible through adjacent windows and light wells. The Cappella Maggiore has also been impacted by masonry subsidence and cracking, which has required the construction of enormous buttresses to support the outer walls. The chapel's external look has been further modified by the addition of other structures.