The Vatican Museums are considering putting a cap on visitor numbers amid fears among tour guides that overcrowding could provoke a stampede unless security policy is changed.
The museums, a sprawling structure of 54 galleries containing a vast collection of treasures gathered by pontiffs over the centuries, draw in more than 6 million people a year. But unlike other major Rome landmarks, such as the Colosseum, they currently have no daily limit on visitors.
Speaking to the Guardian on condition of anonymity, tour guides claimed that at least 10 visitors fainted each day as slow-moving crowds filed through the long and narrow corridor that leads to the most popular attraction, the Sistine Chapel, while others have suffered injuries and panic attacks. One visitor was saved by a guard after having a heart attack in February.
The tour guides, who each pay €250 a year for a licence to work there, say conditions are most perilous during peak summer season, when visitor numbers can swell to more than 30,000 a day and temperatures reach as high as 40C. Only the Sistine Chapel has air conditioning.
The building contains a number of emergency exits, but there are only two along the mile-long Sistine Chapel passageway – one at either end.
“The situation is slowly getting back to normal as the high season is over, but from March to October, it is hellish,” said one of the guides.
“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.”
About 3,000 guides work at the museums. Another said she fainted last year and broke her foot. “It’s dangerous for the tourists, for the patrimony and for us,” she added. The same guide looked into suing the Vatican, but lawyers told her it was impossible due to the state having its own set of rules surrounding building security.
In response to the claims, Barbara Jatta, who Pope Francis appointed as director of the museums in late 2016, told the Guardian: “Together with the Vatican governorate, we are strongly working towards fixing the right number from 2019.”
For more read The Guardian
