Did you know?

1. Michelangelo was reluctant to work on the Sistine Chapel. To begin, he considered himself a sculptor and not a painter. It was only after the insistence of Pope Julius II that he agreed and spent the next four years of his life painting the ceiling.

2. Contrary to popular belief, Michelangelo did not paint the ceiling wall lying on his back, instead he used wooden scaffold to reach the height of ceiling. The misconception was formed after the 1965 film, "The Agony and the Ecstasy".

3. It is ironic that Michelangelo's best work was something that made him miserable, so much so that he wrote a poem about his misery and torture.

4. Michelangelo's masterpiece has proven to be highly resilient, resisting the test of time for five centuries. New popes have since been elected in the Sistine Chapel.