Laocoön and His Sons
When Pope Julius II came to the throne in 1503, he moved his growing collection of Roman sculpture here, to an enclosed courtyard within the Villa Belvedere itself. Soon after its discovery, Julius purchased the ancient sculpture of "Laocoön and His Sons" and brought it here by 1506. A short time later, the statue of Apollo became part of the collection, henceforth to be known as the "Apollo Belvedere", as did the heroic male torso known as the Belvedere Torso.