Vatican Museum, Uffizi Popularity Pressures?

[TLCOhio]

From the New York Times yesterday, they have this headline: "European Museums Straining Under Weight of Popularity" with these highlights: "It is the height of summer, and millions of visitors are flocking to the Louvre — the busiest art museum in the world, with 9.3 million visitors last year — and to other great museums across Europe. Every year the numbers grow as new middle classes emerge, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe. Last summer the British Museum had record attendance, and for 2013 as a whole it had 6.7 million visitors, making it the second-most visited museum in the world. Attendance at the Uffizi in Florence for the first half of the year is up almost 5 percent over last year."

 

The challenge? This story notes: "Seeing masterpieces may be a soul-nourishing cultural rite of passage, but soaring attendance has turned many museums into crowded, sauna-like spaces, forcing institutions to debate how to balance accessibility with art preservation. In recent years, museums have started doing more to manage the crowds. Most offer timed tickets. Others are extending their hours. To protect the art, some are putting in new air-conditioning systems."

 

For the Vatican Museum, they noted: "Last year, the Vatican Museums had a record 5.5 million visitors. This year, thanks to the popularity of Pope Francis, officials expect that to rise to 6 million. The Vatican is installing a new climate-control system in the Sistine Chapel to help spare Michelangelo’s frescoes the humidity generated by the 2,000 people who fill the space at any given time, recently as many as 22,000 a day. The Vatican hopes to have it finished by October. The director of the Vatican Museums said his institution was in a bind: To safeguard the frescoes, attendance should not be allowed to increase, he said, but 'the Sistine Chapel has a symbolic, religious value for Catholics and we can’t set a cap.' "

 

For Florence, a guide said "visiting the Accademia, famous for Michelangelo’s 'David,' had become 'a nightmare' because visitors are now allowed to take photos. 'People swarm the paintings, step on anyone to get to them, push, shove, snap a photo, and move quickly on without looking at the painting.' Lines outside the Uffizi in Florence, which had 1.9 million visitors last year, are famed for their length. The Uffizi is considerably smaller than other major museums."

 

Interesting story and detailed background on these famed Europe museums that we have been fortunate to have been able to have visited.

 

Full story at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/arts/design/european-museums-straining-under-weight-of-popularity.html?&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LargeMediaHeadlineSum&module=photo-spot-region&region=photo-spot&WT.nav=photo-spot&_r=0

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of nice visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 178,793 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[CathyCruises]

Thanks for posting. I have experienced these crowds and it does not make for a pleasant visit. The couple of times I've been in the Sistine Chapel, it smelled like a gymnasium. Hopefully the new climate control system will help with that.

 

I love museums and we have visited many, but if I only have one day in a great foreign city, I much prefer to be out absorbing the local culture, strolling, having a coffee in an outdoor cafe, generally experiencing the local life vs. being cooped up inside for hours. Now, if I have multiple days or visits, then we'll hit the museums. The one exception may be the Accademia in Florence to see the David. At least there, you can be in and out in an hour and back outside again!!

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Thanks Terry!

 

I agree with Cathy!

 

Those museums were a crazy mess 3 years ago when we visited!

We were lucky to get an "OK glance" at everything from "The David" to "Mona" and "The Sistine" among others, but certainly could not spend any length of time in the crowded viewing areas. There was too much else to do!!

 

Any successful event is the same way - they need the crowd to survive, but the crowds can kill them! I wouldn't be surprised to see the museums go to a "timed" entry to control the crowd flow, but if nobody leaves that doesn't work either! LOL

 

Seems to work well at Sagrada Famillia and The Leaning Tower, so there's still hope!

 

Whatever possesses entire families to "squat" in front of a museum piece for hours is beyond me. I suspect they've grown anxious from not being able to hog deck chairs for the day! HAHA!

 

Still, we can't wait to get back there in a couple months!!

Edited July 29, 2014 by NEW 2 CRUISIN

[slidergirl]

This won't help people in Rome for a day on a port call, but if you are in Rome in May-Oct and have one evening:

Do the Vatican Museums on the Friday night! It was totally uncrowded. I could spend time exactly where I wanted to. Some times, I was the only person in a room. The Sistine Chapel was blissfully uncrowded - maybe 100 people…

[euro cruiser]

I've never understood people taking pictures of paintings or sculptures. Even those of you with great cameras and a lot of talent are not going to get as good of a shot as a professional with proper lighting and no tourists wandering about, so why not just purchase the professional shots at the museum gift shop? And I really don't understand the desire to have a picture of oneself (or one's family) standing in front of a particular piece of art. What's that about?

[slidergirl]

I've never understood people taking pictures of paintings or sculptures. Even those of you with great cameras and a lot of talent are not going to get as good of a shot as a professional with proper lighting and no tourists wandering about, so why not just purchase the professional shots at the museum gift shop? And I really don't understand the desire to have a picture of oneself (or one's family) standing in front of a particular piece of art. What's that about?

 

EC - I buy photos at the gift shop. I also take my own. Never know if a closeup photo of the little esoteric cherub sitting at the bottom of a larger painting that I found fascinating is going to be available at the shop ;) I tend to not take the "big picture", but I love to take closeups of little pieces. Or, I may find the lighting at one spot particularly interesting. Instance: the little Matisse crucifix - at night, it had a really nice shadow that was uninterrupted by hundreds of others - it was just me in the room. It was a very spiritual experience for me. I had to have a photo of it to remind me of that.

 

As for those who must take the family photo in front of the Mona Lisa - I will never understand, either ;)

[CintiPam]

I simply do not understand the attraction of taking photos of art objects. I have found that people focusing on the photo never really take the opportunity to enjoy the original object itself in situ. If you want a reproduction, gift shop will supply you with a good one; and the Google art project and the very sophisticated art museum websites will provide a better quality photo than most one takes. (Take a look at the Hermitage's website, for example.)

 

I am thrilled that the D'Orsay now forbids photos. Made our revisit there last October so much more enjoyable. People taking photos do not want others in their photos; I am tired of dodging photographers in art museums. Also, although flash is forbidden, so many people violate this rule and it really can damage an art object over time with hundreds of flashes.

Edited August 1, 2014 by CintiPam