Inside the Vatican Museums | EWTN Vaticano Special

[Music] this week on vaticano join in as the vatican museums opens its doors to us and learn about the most interesting job in the world take an exclusive look at the vatican library and stay with us as we review the top news and events of the vatican museums over the past year for this and more vaticano starts now [Music] it's very early morning in rome inside the vatican museums it's pitch black and there's barely a sound only the clinking of the keys and the flashlights are disturbing the nightly rest of the world's most precious collection of art at 5 30 a.m sharp the museum wakes up with the opening of door number one the name of the early riser who brings the museum to life is gianni crea he's the senior key keeper of the vatican museums johnny's duty is to coordinate the work of the other key keepers and ensure that each door has a lock and its own key there are exactly 2 797 keys we are ten key keepers five of us open and five close the museum's doors it takes about one hour to open all the doors every day and about 90 minutes to close them and of course if we don't find any complications at the atrium of the four gates gianni meets alessio selects the right set of keys and proceeds with his colleague for their daily rounds as i open the atrium of the four gates i can truly smell the essence of history and this is such a beautiful sensation that nothing else can give me the same emotion [Music] the daily duty of the key keepers is nothing less than opening some 300 doors a light the halls and galleries and open what many would consider the pearl of the vatican the sistine chapel [Music] the vatican museums are about seven and a half kilometers long and every key keeper walks about three and a half kilometers each time at opening and closing time imagine that you have to walk four and a half miles through these resplendent halls every morning viewing the world's greatest art masterpieces johnny's route runs through the 16th century gallery of maps there are 40 panels of painted topographical maps of italy of which 80 percent are precise and accurate now we will use one of the smallest keys to turn on the lights inside the rafael rooms the raphael rooms used to be the private apartments of pope julius ii here the two colleagues take a short break and enjoy the view of the belvedere courtyard the vatican museums are so fascinating and so beautiful that in each corner we can discover something new and unique walking through the rooms gianni arrives at the nicolene chapel the frescoes are painted by the famous florentine artist blessed frangelico [Music] the private chapel of the pope at the moment it is closed and is rarely open to the public [Music] the window links the vatican museums with the apostolic palace where the pope holds his private audiences johnny has been a key keeper of the vatican museums for nearly 16 years he carries a register and a sealed envelope this envelope contains the key to the sistine chapel but when it comes to opening the sistine chapel every day he's filled with the same awe that he felt the very first time [Music] this is for me an extraordinary and special privilege i have the opportunity to open these doors to all tourists coming from all over the world and visit the pope's museums but especially the sistine chapel seat of the conclave since 1492. [Music] right here in prayer and absolute secrecy the college of cardinals elect the new pope saint john paul ii used to say that the christ of the sistine chapel expresses in himself the whole mystery of the visibility of the invisible the michelangelo ceiling frescoes tell the story of creation and the last judgment on the altar wall recounts the story of salvation these marvels were created by a team of the best renaissance painters pietro pergino sandro botticelli dominico guerlandayo and cosimo rosselli who painted the walls with the stories from the old and new testaments [Music] these frescoes are considered the most impressive artistic accomplishments of human civilization [Music] the itinerary we did is unique and extraordinary because each door and each key has its own charm and secret that it reveals to the world it's already 8 am the official opening time of the vatican museums the last hall on gianni's route is the gallery of statues each statue speaks about history each statue has something different and fascinating like this one for example [Music] after completing his duties johnny can relax and enjoy the beautiful view of the roman morning this one is one of the most beautiful spots of the vatican museums this is the ladder of bramante the scala del bramante where we can view the entire panorama of rome [Music] every year the vatican museums provide access to more than 70 000 works of art for 6 million visitors from all over the world this is possible thanks to gianni and other personnel who continue to perform these daily duties [Music] the vatican museums are one of the largest museum complexes in the world [Music] founded in the early 16th century they possess an immense collection of artifacts of historical and artistic value [Music] every year millions of people walk through the galleries to discover the treasures hidden within the vatican walls [Music] perhaps less known is the vatican library [Music] formerly established in 1475 it's considered one of the oldest libraries in the world it contains around 75 000 cody says and 1.1 million printed books of which 8500 are early editions printed before 1501 [Music] while the vatican museums are open and anyone can visit them the library is reserved only to accredited scholars [Music] on thursday the 16th of march the vatican museums presented the fourth volume in the series of books on the history of the vatican's apostolic library the volume was curated by barbara ajata who was chosen because of her experience as an art historian and in the graphic arts this volume is part of a major project that the prefect of the vatican library monsignor cesare pazzini wanted and started six years ago every two years a volume a book on each century of the history of the vatican library is going out it is a series of seven volumes that illustrates the history of the vatican apostolic library from the mid-15th century to the present day and this this volume really wants to focus on the artistical collections so not only the museo sakura and the museo profano of the library the first museums established in other museums not as a collection of statues but as real museums within the vatican walls but also the numismatic collection the prince and drawings collections and also the epigraphic collection the vatican library and the vatican museums have always closely collaborated and these volumes shed more light on this relationship given that they also include the history of the papacy in that particular period when new museums and galleries were being established [Music] every book is curated by by a single person that coordinates several scholars i am now passed in the vatican museum so the next books will be curated and coordinated by other scholars that have been already established so i will be part probably with some essays but not as a curator anymore and this makes sense because barbara jata now has much bigger responsibilities last january pope francis tasked her with a new mission she is now at the head of the vatican museums the first woman ever to hold the position since the museums were created in a recent interview with ewtn the new director shared her thoughts about this appointment the first impression was really surprised i was not expected it it makes me feel conscious of the importance of the task that's for sure this new female leadership is already bearing fruit at the very museums and now just this morning they took me the report of the first two months because we are the first of march today and the first two months that we have an increase of 18 000 people in the two months comparing to the other years so we will be we will have more than six million in this year hopefully this ever increasing number of visitors demonstrates that the popularity of sacred art is growing and that modern culture is greatly interested in the mission of the museums which is to store art and evangelize through beauty next year 2018 we'll also see the completion of the project of digitization of the manuscripts of the vatican library thus making available online its large collection following the mission of the vatican museums the library wants to enlighten the world with the wisdom it stores inside the vatican walls [Music] thanks for watching get ready to discover more stories about the vatican museums [Music] welcome back you're watching vaticano [Music] the vatican museums have launched a new project to illuminate their precious frescoes this is the historic moment of the illumination of the frescoes in the raphael rooms these masterpieces are a treasure of world art and a figurative textbook on which generations of artists have been formed over the centuries the rooms are among the most visited sites in the vatican museums located as they are on the way to the sistine chapel [Music] it was antonio paulucci now former director of the vatican museums who initiated this project a few years ago and today he's presenting the fruit of this hard work we've managed to give new lighting to both the sistine chapel and rafael rooms i think the administration of the vatican museums can be very proud of the result achieved carlo bogany executive project director at osram italia the company which realized the project says that it's been a long but very successful story it's involved many different entities and experts to study and identify the right mix of color and the right spectrum needed to put the frescoes in a better light yes the the light the new light consisting in a in a high high level technology which incorporate led which incorporates specific optics which bring a great uniformity on the frescoes and based on the color reproduction index high color reflection ins which is quite similar to the sun the aim was to imitate sunlight as close as possible so that visitors during the evening hours can enjoy the frescoes in their full glory we arrive at the value of about 98 and with this high coal reproduction index together with the high uniformity the spectator can see really the rafaella's rooms therefore painting in a new life in a new in a new light and this allowed to to check all the details shape the pictures and to understand exactly the meaning of the fresco following the visitor's path the first room is the hall of constantine not accessible now due to renovation work the second coming up is the room of heliodorus with the scenes of the encounter of leo the great with attila and the expulsion of heliodorus and the eucharistic miracle of bolsena and liberation of saint peter in this latter scene in particular raphael worked masterfully with the light creating an extraordinary three-dimensional effect the presentation to launch the project took place in the third room the room of the signatura here the visitor can find a scene depicting the disputation over the most holy sacrament in the center there's the holy sacrament uniting the church in heaven with the church on earth and the proof that during mass there are no boundaries between paradise and earth [Music] this room also contains the famous school of athens the cardinal and theological virtues and a scene from greco-roman mythology called the parnassus the last room is the room of the fire in the borgo with frescoes representing the coronation of charlemagne the oath of leo iii and the battle of austria the scene of the fire in the borgo depicts an event that really happened and is recorded in vatican documents according to these in the year 847 a big fire broke out in front of st peter's basilica and through his blessing alone pope leo iv miraculously extinguished it saving the people and the church thanks to the new led technology the vatican museums have shed new light on the raphael rooms offering visitors a better visual experience of the frescoes the new lighting will also help to preserve these masterpieces in a more efficient way saving more than 70 percent of the energy that was used to do so before thanks for watching stick around for more on vaticano [Music] welcome back you're watching vaticano [Music] in the city of rome land of martyrs and popes stands the vatican city the pulsating heart of catholicism along the course of the centuries popes and cardinals have safeguarded thousands of works of art within the papal walls today these treasures compose one of the most important collections in the world the vatican museums with a surface area of forty thousand square meters seven kilometers of galleries and eleven thousand rooms the pontifical museums offer the visitor a 360 degree view of the history of humanity greco-roman art etruscan and egyptian pieces passing through the renaissance to reach modern and contemporary art what the six million yearly visitors who pass through the museums don't know is that underneath its galleries a group of 60 restorers together with specialists from the entire world are working to protect these priceless works of art our trip through the innermost corridors of the vatican museums starts in the painting and wood restoration lab created in 1923 today it counts on a team of 20 restorers and numerous specialists among whom are art historians biologists and chemists maria ludmila puska chief restorer of the laboratory of restoration of pictorial support takes us to the origins of this professional figure within the vatican state the position of the restorer has ancient roots inside the vatican walls because the same artists who worked for the papal court were themselves restorers i would like to mention the intervention of murata inside the raphael rooms or the side inside of borge's apartment therefore important figures in fact have always worked to ensure the preservation of the images because in fact the images specifically the paintings represent the history of the church concretely in iconography so timely and accurate recounts the origins of their own catholic church so the good conservation of paintings has always been a duty of the studios even before they were created for maria ludmila every painting every work is a unique reality that as such deserves the exclusive dedication of the restorer each painting has its own story and is like a patient in a hospital so in fact sometimes what seems to be in the worst state actually has less serious problems perhaps something that is not seen for example damage to the substrate on the table is much more serious than what you see on the painted surfaces each has its own story we seek to understand before the story the techniques and the degradation and then develop a strategy and a timetable for restoration certainly in recent years we have tried to return the works as soon as possible to the public which is always very crowded inside the vatican museums so that they can be viewed again the second stage of our journey leads us to the restoration laboratory that deals with marble here the head of the shop gige devaro gives us an overview of the work in this area this laboratory existed since 84 and did not exist before in this capacity the laboratory has the responsibility of safeguarding the approximately twenty thousand pieces of stone material that are located inside the vatican museums and not only that we also have the responsibility for the protection of all the surface of stone materials that are in the vatican not only inside the vatican walls but also outside to give you some examples bernini's colonnade castel gandolfo where we often go to work the vatican gardens fountains etc and all of that in a certain way regards the marble stones which relates to this laboratory the third and final stop of our trip is the laboratory of restoration of works made of poly material from the vatican museum we started working here in 1997. in that year there was a first phase of study of the collections and then our group took over in 2001 for a strong conservation of the collections in this museum that consist of items mostly made of organic materials and therefore are very fragile very sensitive many of these objects were affected by attacks from insects and by temperature and humidity conditions were not suitable for all materials in the collections and so we have worked essentially since 2001 in this studio on the collections and this is what this restorer catherine de viere is working on right now this is a japanese sculpture in lacquered wood and gold that represents a buddha called ahmada the lord of heaven in the east this buddha had as its task taking the deceased on their deathbed to accompany them to paradise the paradise of the east therefore it is a very important buddha highly revered as for the statue itself in the woods support it is from around the 12th century we made a radiographic test which helped us to understand the wooden assembly and the techniques and the period of production of the work of art i have in hand a small digital microscope now i'm using this microscope which allows enlargements ranging from 20 to 50 times which allows me to investigate the material and to see much better than you can see with the eye for example here on the hand there is a small gap and with this microscope i can see how many layers were applied in this case thanks to the microscope i could see that there were eight different layers between preparatory layers and layers of color with my eye alone i couldn't see anything so there are little tools that allow us to make great discoveries regardless of specialization there is one point that unites all the restorers respect for the human genius behind these works of art there are so many emotions all restorers will tell you that they have had moments of awe in front of a work of art we are aware of working in front of the extraordinary works and this awareness means that we often have strong emotions when we realize how fortunate we are to put our hands on such important works artistically historically archaeologically historical thanks to humility respect curiosity and frequently the wisdom of these restoration professionals every day the world can continue to enjoy the beauty that emanates from inside the vatican museums [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 4,780,307

Keywords: EVA, EVA11322, vatican museums, art, archaeology, history, rome, roma, museum, sistine chapel, gianni crea, keykeeper

Id: xg8SVfl40NU

Length: 27min 52sec (1672 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 01 2018