Which pope is the Sistine Chapel named after?

The Sistine Chapel is named after Pope Sixtus IV.

Sixtus IV, whose birth name was Francesco della Rovere, ordered the chapel’s construction in the 1470s. The building replaced an earlier papal chapel known as the Cappella Magna, or Great Chapel, in the Vatican Palace.

The name identifies the chapel’s original patron, not the artist who later made it famous. Michelangelo painted the ceiling decades after the building was completed, during the papacy of Julius II. This is why the chapel’s name and its best-known artwork are associated with different popes.

Sixtus IV consecrated the new chapel in 1483. It became an important site for papal worship and ceremonies, eventually including conclaves to elect popes. Its name therefore reflects its fifteenth-century foundation, while its worldwide fame largely comes from Renaissance frescoes added later by Michelangelo and other artists.