Changes at the Vatican! READ!

[pointofnoreturn]

I got up this morning to read the paper and lo and behold... an article on the Vatican Museum. I couldn't find a proper link to the same article online but here are some quips:

Vatican puts tourists on the clock - Visiting hours shortened, prices hiked at Vatican Museums

The Vatican, overwhelmed by the growing numbers of visitors crowding into the Sistine Chapel, is attempting to reduce lineups, beginning Monday, by cutting back opening hours for visitors in favour of tour groups that book in advance

The numbers in the Sistine Chapel increasingly risk damaging the frescoes by Michelangelo, restored in 1994.

Beginning Monday (Jan. 8 2007), the entry fee for individual visitors, who will not be able to enter before 10 am, goes up to 13 euros ($19.85 Cdn), from 12 euros.

Earlier slots, beginning at 8 am, will be reserved for groups booked 30 days in advance through tourist agencies that lodge a deposit of 6000 euros with the Vatican.

The museum remain open until 1 pm in winter and 4:45 pm in summer.

Article in the Ottawa Citizen, courtesy of The Times London - published Sat. Jan 6, 2007

[madamtrashheap]

Here's a link to an article about it in The Times: www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2533271,00.html

Interestingly, there is no mention of it on the Vatican website yet (7th, although the 2007 calendar is up, which is a start). I'm interested to see what happens with the later opening time as the line to get in (esp in Summer) was always long by 8.15 and the doors didn't open until 8.45am.

Update: the Vatican site www.vatican.va updated their site with the new opening times on the day that the changes took effect...nothing like a bit of notice! Now if they would just update the price list on the site...