Which book of the Bible is primarily depicted on the Sistine Chapel ceiling?

The story behind the answer

The Book of Genesis is primarily depicted on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

At the center of Michelangelo's scheme are nine large narrative panels drawn from Genesis, the first book of the Bible. They present the Creation of the World, the Creation of Adam and Eve, the Fall and Expulsion from Eden, and episodes from Noah's life, including the Flood. Together, these scenes form the ceiling's central visual narrative.

The surrounding figures expand the theme. Michelangelo painted prophets and Sibyls, ancestors of Christ, and decorative nude figures around the Genesis panels. The arrangement links the creation story and humanity's fall with the Christian idea of salvation, culminating elsewhere in the chapel's later altar-wall fresco, The Last Judgment.

People sometimes answer Exodus because Moses appears prominently in the chapel's wall frescoes. Those scenes belong to a separate cycle painted mainly by artists such as Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and Perugino. The ceiling itself is centered on Genesis, not Exodus, Revelation, or Psalms.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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