The Keeper of the Keys

June 18, 2018 6:51 PM

Meet the man who holds the keys to the Pope’s Museums, and other stuff. (YT video)
posted by shoesfullofdust (6 comments total)

Huh....on the one hand, what a fascinating job. On the other hand, his job is to walk around opening doors in the morning and locking them at night. Something done by a security guard paid minimum wage everywhere else. Unlocking doors isn't exactly inherently interesting work, I would think, even if the doors are really awesome. I imagine the person in this job has to be a real art lover or vatican loyalist so that they find it rewarding just to walk past all the amazing art every day, even if the work they do while walking past isn't itself that interesting.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:00 PM on June 18, 2018

"I am Vinz, Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer...Volguus Zildrohoar, Lord of the Seboullia. are you the Gatekeeper?"
posted by parki at 8:25 PM on June 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

If I were responsible, in the abstract, for the physical security of the Vatican museums I would want to be reasonably confident that the person who literally holds the keys to rooms containing a great deal of expensive if not priceless art was happy with their job. The contents of the Vatican museums are not just interesting for the ecclesiastically inclined.

(caveat lector: I have no professional experience at all in facility security. Are security guards often entrusted with the keys to the facility? I'd have thought that was a more senior responsibility.)
posted by Fraxas at 2:36 AM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is fascinating. It never occurred to me that someplace like the Vatican would need to have a central repository for all its keys (from across centuries!) and to have a game plan for getting things locked and unlocked each day.

It must be amazing to walk through all those amazingly detailed and decorated rooms every day. I bet that even on the 1000th time through there would be the possibility of going "oh, wow, I never noticed THAT before!"

I'm sure the position also carries symbolic weight, as is the case with most things involving old religions. I'd be curious to know what else his duties entail. Like, he obviously has to know exactly what is supposed to be open to whom and at what time, and he has to coordinate 9 other people with keys to plan out routes that make sure things are opened and then locked again each day.

I'm glad I watched the video and didn't just read the article, because the video sort of emphasized exactly what environment this is taking place in, and it's astonishing.
posted by hippybear at 3:06 AM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

I grew up catholic and went to catholic schools. I remember nuns and priests always carrying around huge key rings, locking and unlocking all sorts of things for no reason that I could see. Every cupboard had a lock, every classroom had locks, cloak rooms had locks, lavatories had locks. Confessionals were locked when not in use, the pay phone booth was kept locked, corridors could be locked off, passages from convent to school to church were ceremoniously unlocked/locked each day as the nuns processed here and there, and on and on and on.

So, is it paranoia or do catholics have a lock and key fetish?
posted by james33 at 5:25 AM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

Catholics believe that papal authority derives from the line in Matthew quoted in the first line of the article. As such, keys play a central role in the iconography of the Vatican. The Vatican flag includes an image of two keys crossed over one another, and papal coats-of-arms all include the crossed keys. St. Peter's Basilica is roughly key-shaped, and the line from Matthew is written in the dome. I don't know if that explains locking practices at Catholic schools, but it probably helps explain why the Vatican uses a ten person squad of key keepers rather than a more decentralized system.
posted by vathek at 8:27 AM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]