Rome mayor says new underground entrance planned for Vatican Museums

Published: 2006-04-04

ROME (CNS) -- A projected new entrance to the Vatican Museums will feature a giant glass pyramid and underground shops and restaurants, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni announced. The subterranean entrance will stretch several blocks, in an effort to accommodate the long lines of visitors and protect them from the elements, Veltroni told a Rome press conference April 3. "We will no longer see those interminable lines of people who have to stand waiting for hours, no matter what the weather," Veltroni said. The new entrance, built primarily on Italian territory, would connect at the Vatican walls with the existing museum entrance, which was enlarged a few years ago. Veltroni said city planners were already working with Vatican officials to coordinate the architectural arrangement. Veltroni said the above-ground pyramid at the entrance site would help illuminate the underground complex and would evoke the famous pyramid at the entrance of the Louvre in Paris.

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