Papal conclave: It's forbidden to take images in Sistine Chapel, but tour guides share hack
THE VATICAN — With the papal conclave to start on May 7, all eyes are now on Sistine Chapel and its iconic ceiling by Michelangelo.
Sistine Chapel and The Vatican Museums, according to data, are the second most visited museum in the world last year after Louvre.
As such, to protect the safety of The Vatican City's residents and the cardinals participating in the upcoming papal conclave, taking photos and videos anywhere in the Vatican Museums is allowed, except for the Sistine Chapel.
In addition to security cameras, to ensure that no camera recording takes place in the Sistine Chapel, only tour guides accredited by The Vatican are allowed to take tours in the Vatican Museums — and if these guides' guests are caught violating the rules, the guests and the guides would not only be escorted outside; the guides would also lose their license not only to tour the museum, but even their license as guides as well.
The tour guides, however, still understand their guests' need to take a picture or video as proof that they had been to the Sistine Chapel. This is why they share this hack to their guests: Take a quick photo or video by the signage outside the chapel.
It is forbidden to stay long by the chapel's entrance and exit to not obstruct the hundreds of visitors entering and exiting the chapel at any given time, so guides advice that if one should take a photo by the signage, to make it really fast.
A successful and "legitimate" shot by the signage would include a peek at the chapel's interiors and a small portion of Michelangelo's famous ceiling.
If you are still not satisfied with the signage, The Vatican has its own souvenir shop that sells postcards, refrigerator magnets, books and posters of the chapel, its ceiling and "The Last Judgment." Such merchandise is also available in The Vatican Post as well as in many other souvenir shops in St. Peter's Square.
Located in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official Vatican residence, the Sistine Chapel is named after Pope Sixtus IV, who commissioned its building between 1473 and 1481.
Under Pope Julius II's patronage, between 1508 and 1512, Michelangelo painted the chapel's ceiling, then between 1535 and 1541, he painted the fresco "The Last Judgment" for Popes Clement VII and Paul III.
