Today was a pretty special day. We booked a unique tour of the Vatican that isn’t offered every day and only allows up to 20 people per showing. Just before dawn in Vatican City, the Key Master moves from museum gallery to gallery, unlocking the various sections within the Vatican Museums. Essentially, our small group meets the Vatican’s Key Master to assist in the opening before over 20,000 people come to view it. We arrived at the Museum entrance around 5:30am, about 30 minutes prior to the start of the tour.
Our entry starts promptly at 6:00am, two hours before the general public are admitted. Just as the clock turned 6:00am, a large metal clunk was heard and the Key Master opened the giant entry door for us to enter and begin the ritual of unlocking the rooms, just as cardinals and popes have done for centuries. Upon entering we walked across the courtyard which offered a great view of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Our guide explains the process and what to expect, he even states that each of us will get to open one of the rooms ourselves, turning on the lights for the group to witness. The Key Master manages 2,797 keys! He shows us the numerous rings of keys, and hands us each one of the many sets to hold and examine.
We then begin to follow him around and unlock door after door. We go through areas off limits to others during the day and our guide explains some of the more notable art pieces and paintings.
The tour moved quick, as we are on a VERY strict schedule. We must have all the rooms open by 7:15am and be at the Sistine chapel by then to open the door. The guide moved quickly through some of the areas, likely too quickly for most people. He did explain that we would have access to the areas all day if we wished to return and view something again for a longer duration, albeit with a large crowd of people by then. As we moved through the rooms, artwork and sculptures from some of the most famous people in history surrounded us. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Perugino, just some of the artists featured in the galleries.
Some of the rooms were massive in size. We unlocked them, stood there for almost half a minute while the Key Master walked someone to the switches for the lights. I took some videos of the room when the lights came on. It was breathtaking.
I can not describe nor will pictures do justice the amount of detail, craftsmanship, or beauty of what is on display. Everything from the ceilings to the floors is so incredible. I will try to show you some of the pictures that I think come close to displaying what we actually witnessed.
The last part of the tour ends with the unlocking of the Sistine Chapel. This key is not on one of the many key rings. It is treated very special and kept separate. The Key Master had chosen each member of our group to open a certain rooms along the way. He presented this key to an elderly woman in our group to use to unlock the Chapel. The key was in a dated and sealed envelope. She almost had tears in her eyes and couldn’t believe what privilege was granted to her.
I should also mention photography is not allowed in the Sistine Chapel normally. The Key Master is responsible for deciding if our group would be allowed to take pictures. He decided to allow it, stipulating that the photos should be for our personal memories and not to be shared on social media. I always try to respect those requests, even if others won‘t. I will not be posting any of the interior Sistine Chapel pictures.
After our tour had concluded, we went outside by using the amazing circular ramp exit.
When we exited the same door we used to start our tour, there was a vast difference. We started with 20 people. Now there were hundreds of people in line waiting to enter. It wrapped around the corner, and more and more people kept showing up. We felt very lucky to have seen the Vatican in the way we did.