Sistina is an old style serif

Serif

In typography, serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface . A typeface without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”...

 typeface

Typeface

In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....

 designed in 1950 by Hermann Zapf

Hermann Zapf

Hermann Zapf is a German typeface designer who lives in Darmstadt, Germany. He is married to calligrapher and typeface designer Gudrun Zapf von Hesse....

.

Sistina is an all-capitals titling font intended as a heavy supplement to Michelangelo Titling, based on inscriptional capitals

Roman square capitals

Roman square capitals, also called capitalis monumentalis, inscriptional capitals, elegant capitals and quadrata, are an ancient Roman form of writing, and the basis for modern capital letters....

 in Rome. Sistina was first released in metal in 1951. The recent digital version from Linotype adds small capitals

Small caps

In typography, small capitals are uppercase characters set at the same height and weight as surrounding lowercase letters or text figures...

. Hermann Zapf also collaborated with Akira Kobayashi to make a revised version of Sistina named "Palatino Imperial" as part of the Palatino Nova font family.

Notable uses

• The University of Rochester
  University of Rochester
  The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
  
   has a door labeled MUSEUM in the Sistina typeface. However, there is no museum behind it, providing rich material for campus folklore.
• Sistina is also the font used on the back lower corner of a Macintosh SE
  Macintosh SE
  The Macintosh SE was a personal computer manufactured by Apple between March 1987 and October 1990. This computer marked a significant improvement on the Macintosh Plus design and was introduced by Apple at the same time as the Macintosh II....
  
   computer. It is the font
  Typeface
  In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
  
   in which the caption for the serial number
  Serial number
  A serial number is a unique number assigned for identification which varies from its successor or predecessor by a fixed discrete integer value...
  
   ("Serial Number") is printed.
• It was also the font
  Typeface
  In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
  
   used for the Colorado
  Colorado
  Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
  
   state license plate until 1987.