Italy: Vatican Museums Get Ready for the 2025 Jubilee

Answering questions from the I.Media agency, Barbara Jatta – who received the Legion of Honor on March 12, 2024, at the French Embassy to the Holy See – explains: “We are expecting a lot of visitors for the Jubilee year and we have anticipated this influx by putting in place new rules, which came into force this year.

“In particular, we are extended opening hours to try to make the visit pleasant for everyone, and taking other measures to regulate the flow. We are also preparing many projects and exhibitions to bring the Jubilee to life, in particular with the French Embassy to the Holy See.”

Tickets are allocated to reserve a time in advance, so it will not be possible to enter outside the scheduled time slot. Similarly, the introduction of tickets issued in a specific name should prevent the resale of tickets at higher prices.

In addition, the Sistine Chapel has an entrance door that is just under a meter wide, which acts as a bottleneck when there are crowds. This is why the extension of opening times, tickets issued in a specific name, and the monitoring of visitors' movements from a control room make it possible to better manage flows and ensure more harmonious circulation than before.

Since October 10, 2023, a faithful copy of a boat from the time of Jesus, found in the Holy Land, has been on display in the entrance to the Vatican Museums. It is a reproduction of a boat discovered on the shores of Lake Tiberias in 1986, after a sudden drop in the water level. It had been preserved by the mud from the seabed that covered it.

It is a large sailboat, 8.8 meters long and 2.5 meters wide, with an 8-meter mast, used for fishing and able to accommodate four rowers and a dozen people, probably belonging to the type of boats mentioned in the Gospel accounts of the miraculous catch and the calming of the storm.