Vatican considers limiting visitor numbers as 10 guests a day faint due to overcrowding
- Policies inside Vatican’s 54 galleries could be changed amid unrest from guides
- Guides said that as many as ten people a day were fainting due to overcrowding
- The galleries make around €100m (£88m) a year, half what goes to Vatican state
The Vatican is weighing up whether to cap the number of visitors to its museums after tour guides claimed up to ten people a day were fainting due to overcrowding.
Policies inside the 54 galleries could be changed amid unrest among tour guides and concerns about security.
Currently there is no daily limit on visitors to the attractions, which is estimated to make around €100m (£88m) a year, half of which goes to the Vatican state.
Antonio Paolucci, the previous director, estimated six million visitors made their way to the site every year and hinted a cap would be needed if the situation worsened.
Visitors throng a gallery in the Vatican Museum that leads to the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City on October 27, 2016 in Rome, Italy. Rome is among Europe’s major tourist destinations
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Temperatures in the summer months can hit as high as 40C – but only the Sistine Chapel has air conditioning.
The building contains a number of emergency exits, but along the mile-long Sistine Chapel passageway, there is only one at either end.
One tour guide told The Guardian: ‘Safety is the main problem, because when inside you feel completely trapped, you can barely see your feet.
‘Crowds are one of the most dangerous things; look at what happened in Mecca. It might never happen at the Vatican, but then again it might. That’s what scares me.’
Around 3,000 guides pay €250 a year to carry out tours of the museums. One was weighing up whether to sue the Vatican but was told it was impossible as the state has its own set of rules for building security.
Currently there is no daily limit on visitors to the attractions, which is estimated to make around €100m (£88m) a year, half of which goes to the Vatican state
Barbara Jatta, who was appointed by Pope Francis as the director of the museums in 2016, told the Guardian: ‘Together with the Vatican governorate, we are strongly working towards fixing the right number from 2019.’
She confirmed improving ticketing systems were being implemented and work to install air conditioning in the Raphael Rooms and Borgia Apartments would begin this month.
In the past, the church has been reluctant to implement measures which could limit the number of visitors as it may exclude pilgrims who travelled to Rome for the trip but had not booked tickets.
Typically tickets cost up to €20, with a guided tour around €70. Private tours can cost up to €400 per person.
The Sistine chapel is the only venue among the museums tour which is fitted with air conditioning
According to a source at a tourism association in Rome, museum custodians who previously complained about the cramped conditions had previously been reprimanded.
Jatta added: ‘I understand how difficult it is for tour guides but all our efforts are focused on giving them the best [conditions] in the museums, as it’s also in my interest that they work well and securely.
‘We are strongly working towards this.’
Pope Francis (pictured in Rome on November 2, 2018) appointed Barbara Jatta as the director of the museums in 2016. She hinted that steps were being made to help ease congestion
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