Can't take pictures in the Sistine Chapel; can you have a camera in a backpack?

[k3chantal]

Hello!
We are about to go on the Magic on June 30th. I know that the Vatican doesn't allow photography inside.......can I go inside with my camera in it's backpack?

 

[GPaLarry]

When we were there a couple of years ago and no backpacks were allowed...security was very tight. Restrictions may have changed, so you might check with DCL. I had a camera in a case attached to my belt and kept it packed away in the Sistine Chapel. We couldn't have backpacks at the Coliseum, either. Cameras were OK.

 

[IrishEye]

we have gone inside with camera inside our camera bag. people try to take pictures and guards quickly decend upon them and remind them no pictures, they did not take their camera away. it is so hard to understand why people do things like that, seems like some feel rules don't apply to them at all levels, the i'll do what i want because it is my vacation type. sorry, that is way off topic but the reality of the answer seems to push a button for me.

 

[Dug720]

we have gone inside with camera inside our camera bag. people try to take pictures and guards quickly decend upon them and remind them no pictures, they did not take their camera away. it is so hard to understand why people do things like that, seems like some feel rules don't apply to them at all levels, the i'll do what i want because it is my vacation type. sorry, that is way off topic but the reality of the answer seems to push a button for me.

I agree. A few years ago I was in Florence and was on a small walking tour to the Academia to see THE David. It was made abundantly clear at the time of booking, in the confirmation, and in EVERY sign outside that there was NO photography. But there are always some. Nothing ruins standing in awe of something like having a booming voice from on high saying "There is NO photography allowed!"

(Sadly, from what some have said more recently they have given up on trying to stop it at the Academia. Or else I just read a lot of reports by people who didn't care.)

 

[k3chantal]

we have gone inside with camera inside our camera bag. people try to take pictures and guards quickly decend upon them and remind them no pictures, they did not take their camera away. it is so hard to understand why people do things like that, seems like some feel rules don't apply to them at all levels, the i'll do what i want because it is my vacation type. sorry, that is way off topic but the reality of the answer seems to push a button for me.

Precisely why I don't want to even be perceived as 'that' person. . It bugs me when people lift their devices so that when you are behind them you can't see the show on deck.

 

[Spiffy MacSpiff]

Hello!
We are about to go on the Magic on June 30th. I know that the Vatican doesn't allow photography inside.......can I go inside with my camera in it's backpack?

DS14 was there with a student tour in February so I asked him about photography policies. He says that while camera use was fine inside St. Peter's Basilica, it was right out in the Sistine Chapel. Bags were scanned, and although you could carry a camera in if it was inside a backpack or bag, anyone who took one out and tried to use it was promptly nabbed and escorted out by security.

 

[woody64]

I think I just had my camera with me without the bag. I think you know this but you can take pictures anywhere in the Vatican except the Sistine Chapel. You will see some amazing works of art and thresholds (like below) as you wind your way there. Have a great trip!

 

[bumbershoot]

Hello!
We are about to go on the Magic on June 30th. I know that the Vatican doesn't allow photography inside.......can I go inside with my camera in it's backpack?

Looks like taking the cameras inside is fine, just don't take photos with them.

But the backpack, it seems, needs to be checked at the cloakroom, which they state several times is free of charge.

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/consigli-utili.html

I'm including the link because that wasn't totally easy to find, since it was under Explore and not Info, and it's possible you hadn't seen the page.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Your belongings are allowed to go with you but they watch pretty carefully to make sure you're not taking pics.
What annoys me is the first time I went they said it was to protect it from flash photography but the second time I went it was because a company sponsorship that was helping to restore it would not allow pics.

 

[hubbard53]

Those Romans are a feisty bunch - a nun berated me very eloquently after I snuck a pic inside the Capuchin Crypt

 

[Quellman]

You can take photos anywhere but the Sistine Chapel. It's a shame so many people feel they are above the request. In what would be considered a place of peace to many is now overshadowed by docents asking people to not talk and to not take pictures. Make sure that you have enough time to enjoy the actual space. Sit at one end and just enjoy. Also, you need to pay attention at the very beginning (if you do a group tour). They tell you all about the chapel first, then you go through the museums, and end at the chapel. There is more museum after the sistine, but at that point, everyone is worn out and is headed to the gift shop.

 

[GPaLarry]

When we were in there it was packed, packed wall to wall, and its a big room. Our guide told us to be quiet several times while we were in there...impossible. Announcements were made but not in enough languages, apparently...it was a zoo. The din would go down for a minute, then right back up to out and out talking. If you want pictures of the chapel, there are plenty on the internet and postcards in the crowded gift shop.

 

[2XPCV]

As was said, you can take pictures anywhere but the Sistine Chapel...just to add a data point, when I was there about a year and a half ago, I had no problem bringing my camera in with me (around my neck), but there were guards roaming around checking to see that my lens cap was on. The tour I was on (not through DCL) brought us to some screens before we went in where we could take pictures of pictures of the chapel....they also gave a talk on some of the individual works of art and history of the chapel from those screens, as the Chapel itself is PACKED and you can't really talk in there.

 

[Figment_Fan]

I remember going in 1980 with my high school class. There was a gentleman who stood in the corner and would step toward the middle of the room every so often and put his finger to his mouth and go "Shhhhhhhhhh". Universal language of librarians - QUIETTTT! It would work, silence would descend and as the noise started to rise again, out comes the guy and shhhh rinse and repeat.

 

[FSU Girl]

I think it makes sense to not take pictures there since many will have the flash on and it can damage the paint. Never understood why you couldn't take a picture of the Statue of David, the stone can't be harmed. I feel like they do it so you buy a souvenir picture

 

[anjuan]

Agree with what others have said. On our recent tour on the bus they asked people not to bring in backpacks for that stop because they said you would have to check them and our tour of the Vatican was ending a good distance from where you would have to go back to get the bag at the end of the tour so it would have been a big problem to get the bag afterwards.

 

[DCL Repeaters]

I think it makes sense to not take pictures there since many will have the flash on and it can damage the paint. Never understood why you couldn't take a picture of the Statue of David, the stone can't be harmed. I feel like they do it so you buy a souvenir picture

Hmmm... I don’t think this is true unless it’s a very new rule. Back in 2014 we were able to take pictures of David. Earlier this year my niece was able to as well.

 

[Agent 86]

Never understood why you couldn't take a picture of the Statue of David, the stone can't be harmed. I feel like they do it so you buy a souvenir picture

You can now (well, as of a few weeks ago) - it's a crush of amateur photographers and videographers all around David!

 

[suedon70]

I think it makes sense to not take pictures there since many will have the flash on and it can damage the paint. Never understood why you couldn't take a picture of the Statue of David, the stone can't be harmed. I feel like they do it so you buy a souvenir picture

We toured the Accademia in June 2017 and our guide told our group we could take pictures so of course I did - I think like you said many galleries and museums crack down on flash photography. But I was definitely not about to break the rules in the Sistine Chapel! The guards were very militant about absolutely no photographs taken in there, but we could take photos in the Vatican museums and in St Peter's.

 

[FSU Girl]

Oh well that's good the rule changed about the Statue of David. I was there in 2013 and we were definitely not allowed to take pictures, people were getting yelled at all around us. I find those stone statues so impressive that they are carved from a block of stone I want someone to build me something lol.