Barbara Jatta is the director of the Vatican Museums. Thank you for being with us and hosting us here.
The main question that I would like to ask you regards this institution. The Vatican Museums are one
of the most important cultural institutions in the world, visited by six million people
a year, and with an extraordinary collection of masterpieces; however they were not created
nor invented as proper museums; so what were the actual
challenges and actions that were implemented during the years in order to welcome so many people to this place in a safe
and appropriate environment? As you mentioned, they were not,
at least in the beginning in 1506, established as museums, but throughout the years,
some parts and collections of the museums were established as museums, like the Pio-Clementino
museum in the end of eighteenth century and the Braccio Nuovo
were specifically created to be displays of items. Of course, the corridors which bring you to the Sistine Chapel
and Raphael's Rooms are part of the Papal Palaces so it is really complicated. There were many different challenges
and Raphael Rooms are part of the Papal Palaces so it is really complicated. There were many different challenges
and there are still some challenges. I can tell you that the new entranced opened in the year 2000
was one of them. Of course, now we have the old entrance that was established in
1929 after the Lateran Treaty which established the opening of the Vatican
Museums to the world. It is now used as an exit;
and a new entrance, with a new hall was receiving thousands and thousands of visitors every hour was opened in
the year 2000. This was the major challenge. Yesterday I met the tour operators
and guides of the Vatican Libraries explaining what there will be in the future, the different
itineraries which they can use
not the normal one, but uniques ones for the moment to go to the Sistine Chapel because, of course,
everybody wants to go to the Sistine Chapel. I do well understand this,
but there are parts of the Museums which are so impressive in terms of art, culture, history,
and faith, and it is really important that people are aware of these parts. I can easily mention
a Etruscan collection of the museums,
but I can also mention the ethnological museum. The ethnological museum has
80,000 art objects which come from all
different cultures and continents which where brought to
Pope Pius XI in the '20s to be a sort of missionary exhibit which then was turned into
a permanent collection, and we are now working on that and people
can come and visit, of course, the Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Rooms
and the Borgia Apartments which are the places to be, but really
there are so many other parts, and that is the challenge we are working on.
Well regarding the many people who every day visit Sistine Chapel
and most known parts of the Museums, we are actually facing a sort of
dualism, on one side preserving cultural heritage and on the other side making it available
and accessible above all for the people,
and this is the challenge that all the cultural institutions face: preserving or valorizing,
or hopefully putting them together. What are you doing in this sense? I do well understand that we cannot stop people
coming to the Vatican Museums because this is a place of culture, history, and human heritage
coming to the Vatican Museums because this is a place of culture, history, and human heritage
as you mentioned, so what we are working on is to better preserve the floors and spaces where the visitors are,
who number more than six million nowadays. In the first three months of 2017
we had 150,000 more
people than the other years, so really, this is a big issue and so now since a few years ago we have been working on
maintenance and preservation. Of course as you know, we have seven
different wonderful kinds of restoration laboratories of different kinds of materials. More than one hundred people working
permanently here and they double as external people working on restoration
and perseveration of this material. What I can also tell you is that we have a group of restorers who work all day long
from January to December to remove the dust,
from January to December to remove the dust,
and check all the different parts of the Museums. This is very costly I can tell you even the cost of this
is more than 350,000 euros only for these people who are doing that,
and this is only this company that does that for us, but this is very important,
and I say this, because I think it is very important to know
that and you cannot find this in any other Italian,
European, or international institution, because they do not have palaces from
the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries being part of the Museums, so really the Vatican Museums are
unique in this sense. So, we are really working on daily maintainence
in terms of restoration and preservation,
and keeping the dust out. We will start in January from the Sistine Chapel, so every evening from 7:00
when the visitors are going away in the time of the year
when we have less people coming—generally January-February is the low time—and
we do not have open visits during the evening. We have a special machine which goes up to the
ceiling from 7:00 in the afternoon to 11:00 in the evening to keep the dust off
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; and this is only a part,
and then we have this hall receives it, I do not remember in which month, but I suppose in March or April,
and this keeps going around to all the museums.
This also goes into the stocks and deposits. In terms of the valorization, I mean,
the Vatican Museums are actually promoting themselves
but is there anything particular that you think is quite important in the promotion?
So, you just mentioned that the non-Sistine Chapel, the other collections except for that? We now have
a new website. You are probably aware of that and the new website is
a three years' time study of our staff
and colleagues of the different disciplines on the different collections of the museum
and the new website is a very important—way to interact—exactly with people, tourists,
students, and scholars. We have an online catalog of all the items we have on display
and this is very important in my opinion because no other Italian museum has this, of course,
foreign museums have this,
but I think it is very important in terms of knowing what is in the collection, not only the description of
the general museum,
but the description of each item, its dating, name, measurements, and materials so you can prepare your visit
before coming and you can go in deeply after having visited
and, I speak in terms of a normal school or a high level of university class and level,
really, the new website is a wonderful challenge in terms of
scholarly, student, and visitor options.
scholarly, student, and visitor options.
Well and the last point which I would like to ask you is about the future. What are the challenges for the next ten to
fifteen years given this
trend which you just mentioned in terms of increasing? You are forecasting a sort of increase in terms of numbers.
You are forecasting a sort of growth,
and actually in terms of big projects and/or issues? We have several issues,
I will not speak about fifteen years from now, my contract is five years long, hopefully if the Pope,
and if the cardinal president would like to renovate after five years,
But I will work in middle-term, so five years time, we have several projects in terms of dealing, of course, there are
scholarly projects in terms of research on different collections from the Egyptian one to the contemporary art one,
and this is in terms of scholars. In terms of
arriving visitors, we are really working seriously on the different paths they can take. We have a very big issue,
but I cannot tell you it now, next year I will tell you it because it is something that is under study, that will
probably solve major problems of
visitors arriving in the Museums, but also the idea of opening, for example, the Lapidary Gallery
which is a part that, in terms of scholarly attention,
is, as the Vatican Museums, we are competent,
but it is part of the Papal Palace, and Pope Francis is not living in the palace
and so that will be easier, there will be another way to arrive to the Sistine Chapel so we can split a big line into two,
so we are working on that and also with the idea
of the exit, not only to the basilica, but also to St. Peter's Square directly from the Scala Regia
is a challenge. Of course it is a question of terms and diplomacy.
The Vatican city-state and Vatican institution are very delicate in terms of diplomacy
I must say. You have to
deal with different institutions. The Museums, of course, are one of the institutions out of several institutions which are part
of the Vatican city-state.
I am pretty sure that
we will arrive to these—solutions. Well thank you very much Barbara Jatta,
the director of the Vatican Museums.
