Pope Sixtus IV gave the Sistine Chapel its name by ordering its construction in the 1470s.
The chapel was built within the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City between about 1473 and 1481. It replaced an earlier papal chapel known as the Cappella Magna, which had fallen into disrepair. The new building was intended for papal liturgies and important ceremonies.
Sixtus IV was born Francesco della Rovere and served as pope from 1471 to 1484. His patronage supported major artistic and architectural projects in Rome, including the rebuilding of the chapel and the commissioning of its first cycle of wall frescoes.
The later decoration by Michelangelo often dominates public attention, but the building itself predates the ceiling by several decades. Pope Julius II later commissioned Michelangelo's ceiling, while Pope Paul III commissioned the Last Judgment.