The Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage of the Holy See announced that it is preparing to introduce significant changes to the public admission policies of Vatican museums starting January 1, 2024.
These reforms are presented within the framework of the 2025 Jubilee to be celebrated in Rome and to “overcome some critical problems that have arisen” as a result of the complete recovery of tourism in the Holy City after the Covid-19 pandemic, as explained by the museum board.
“In order to spread attendance over a longer period of time, and to improve the quality and safety of visits, daily opening hours will be extended: museums will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. pm,” said the Museums Directorate. In addition, he reported that the last group of guided tours will be able to enter until 5 in the afternoon.
It also points out that, “during the high season,” which begins in March, museum hours will be extended on weekends until 8:00 p.m., so the last access for tourist groups will be at 6:00 p.m. p.m
Along the same lines, the size of the groups of people visiting the museums will increase: each accredited guide will be able to take up to 20 people per tour. In addition, changes will be implemented in the ticket sales system, “guided by transparency and effectiveness.”
This new system will guarantee solutions and answers to all those who wish to admire the “Pope Museums”:
“The objective is to be able to guarantee the purchase of tickets to individual visitors, pilgrims, families and schools, as well as to operators in the sector, so that each one can satisfy their specific needs,” indicated the Museums Directorate.
On this issue, it reports that “special attention will be paid” to the issue of ticket resale and the purchase of tickets online, “with appropriate technological measures and through the introduction of new nominal tickets, accompanied by rigorous controls of the identity of the ticket holder.”
Finally, the Museums Directorate affirms that a “major project” will be launched that will guarantee “the progressive air conditioning of the exhibition rooms, to protect the health and well-being of visitors.”
The Vatican Museums house collections of art and archeology created by the Pontiffs over the centuries, and also include some of the most exclusive and artistically significant sites of the Apostolic Palaces.
Bárbara Jatta, director of the museums, states that they are “a dynamic space, in which tradition and innovation find a perfect synthesis, in which what the Roman Church has always pursued in its cultural institutions is realized.”