The Sistine Chapel with no visitors, watercolour

The Keepers of the Vatican

Vatican After Hours: a Private Visit with a Guide

The Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel out of hours — without the crowd

Duration: By arrangement
Price: On request · Bespoke pricing
Format: Private access
Language: English, Italian and Russian

By day up to twenty thousand people pass through the Sistine Chapel. There’s another Vatican — after closing, when the halls empty and the museums open their doors to a handful of guests. A private visit out of hours: the galleries, the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel in a silence the daytime never has, alone with the art and your art-historian guide. On request, access to what’s closed even by day: the Vatican Library and Archives. In English, Italian and Russian.

Programme

The Vatican Museums out of hours The galleries without the crowd, at your own pace.
The Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel In a silence you won’t find by day.
The Library and Archives On separate request — private access to the Vatican Library and the historic Archives.
With a guide An art-historian guide and full arrangement of access.

The Sistine Chapel in a crowd and the Sistine Chapel in silence are two different shocks. In the evening, when the museums are closed to the public, you stand beneath Michelangelo’s ceiling almost alone. That kind of access isn’t bought at a ticket desk — it’s arranged, and it’s the finest thing to do in the Vatican.