Page 26 - Expotime10_11_2017

Museums of the Mediterranean

Neither the Wikimedia plan nor the Vatican web map really
enables the tourists to get their bearings. Sources: Wikime-
dia Commons/Amadalvarez; webpage of the Musei Vaticani

specific point when you missed some rooms unintention- original sin of the museum.
ally. With the exemption of the paintings, the whole eth- The new director of the Vatican museums, appointed
nographical and archaeological collection is exhibited in by Pope Francis, is Barbara Jatta, a former curator for
disorder, the museum names are misleading. If the visi- prints and deputy director. Francis is reputed to be a
tor has to decide which museum is to be omitted during liberal Pope and a woman as director in a central insti-
a one day visit, any decision must be wrong. tution of the Catholic Church could be interpreted as a
signal for modernization.
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The museum complex is not only huge: the different mu-
seums were built to the order of different Popes in dif- But this hides the fact that most content in the exhibi-
ferent centuries and the structure of the buildings was tions of the Vatican Museums is far away from modern
not erected for visitors to find their way easily. The Vat- standards. There is, for example, no critical information
ican Museum resemble more an ancient labyrinth than a that the treasures from the Antiquity were collected by
modern museum. Therefore a better signposting is not popes to demonstrate the superiority of the church over
kindness but compelling. the (former?) non-Christian societies. A lot of these ob-
jects came into the ownership of the Vatican by plun-
The museums are totally overrun and lack places for re- dering and destroying non-Christian cultures.
laxing; the distances to the toilets are too long, which
causes, combined with the masses of visitors, serious While many ethnological museums established exhibi-
problems, especially for families with small children or tions which concentrate on their problematic role in co-
siblings. By the way: Every visitor should consider that lonialism and distance themselves from racist collectors
the Vatican's “Aqua non potabile” is to be taken literally. of the past, this critical view to its own history is avoid-
ed in the Vatican. While it is self-evident for historical
The alternative to the crowded normality was intro- museums today to show the atrocities of wars and war
duced just recently: an internet ticketing system (low heroes, visitors in the Vatican Museums are compelled to
fees!) and booked tours with professional guides, espe- an understanding of history which was prominent in the
cially in Friday nights from May to October: you avoid the 19th cent.: they are to admire bloodsheds and genocid-
crowds of visitors but have to pay more. But also some al actions by caesars and popes via works of art. Papal
new marketing ideas like „breakfast at the museums“ or propaganda forms a key theme in nearly every work of
guided tours „in all languages“ is intended to raise the art displayed in the museums.
number of visitors – they do not solve the problematical

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EXPOTIME!, issue October / November 2017