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Quoted from 15/02/2006 New Zealand News Report
Vatican Fetes Museums On Its 500th Birthday
"Philip Pullella, ReutersFive hundred years ago on Tuesday, Pope Julius II had a Roman-era statue that was unearthed near the Colosseum moved into one of his palace courtyards. Thus were born the Vatican Museums.
To celebrate, the Vatican unveiled events to mark the 5th centenary of what is arguably the world's most prestigious museum complex, housing almost everything from mummies to Michelangelo.
Between now and December, the Vatican Museums will hold seminars and conferences, unveil refurbished wings, a few new restorations and, most significantly, a recently discovered Roman necropolis inside the Vatican in pristine shape.
Pope Julius could not have imagined the marble statue - believed to be a 1st century BC reproduction of a Greek bronze of the mythological character Laocoon - would be the seed of a collection that today attracts some four million people a year.
But the Vatican said there would be no respite from the long lines visitors have to endure to get in because the Museums were in old buildings and the "danger of terrorists" always loomed.
"We have nearly 8 km (5 miles) of exhibitions but even I can't tell you exactly how many pieces we have because even a small archway or a minor fresco is art," Francesco Buranelli, the museums' director, said on the sidelines of a news conference.
The museums are unusual because they grew haphazardly over the centuries in a series of halls, rooms and courtyards that are still part of the Apostolic Palace where the Pope lives. Sometimes parts are still closed when the Pope uses them.
Pope Julius added several more statues in the so-called "Octagonal Courtyard" and over the centuries other Popes opened other sections and galleries of the palace to visitors.
Waiting For Michelangelo
Today, they include the Michelangelo-frescoed Sistine Chapel, the Raphael Rooms, the Borgia Apartments and a dizzying list of other halls, galleries and collections.
Queues nearly always snake for blocks along the Vatican walls but officials said no relief was in sight because of the unique structure of the museums.
"They were born as private collections and not for public viewing," Buranelli said. "It is impossible to change structures like the chapels and hallways in the Apostolic Palace, so bottlenecks are inevitable," he said.
Cardinal Edmund Szoka, governor of Vatican City, said security was also a concern in a post-September 11 world.
"There is the danger of terrorists so visitors have to pass through checks," Szoka, an American, said. "The only solution would be to build a larger museum and we can't do that."
The centrepiece of this year's celebrations will be the opening to the public of a Roman necropolis found just inside the city state's northern walls during excavations for an underground car park.
"This is a necropolis with no equal in Rome," Buranelli said, adding that the tombs were from the 1st Century BC to the 3rd Century AD.
He said it includes some 30 mausoleums and 60 individual tombs on several levels and most in "excellent" condition.
"This will be like immersing yourself back in imperial Rome," he said, adding that it will open in the fall.
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 Norm - Christchurch - New Zealand.
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