Sistine Chapel goes from tourist magnet to polling place for pope

The Sistine Chapel's transformation from a world-famous tourist site to the prayer-filled space where cardinal electors will choose the next pope is under way.

Vatican workers have begun installing protective panels to cover the mosaic tile floors, and mini-scaffolding will raise a false floor level with the altar and eliminate any steps.

Workers will then have to put in tables and chairs for the expected 115 cardinal electors.

Like for the 2005 conclave, two stoves will be installed: one to burn ballots and the other to burn chemicals to create different colored smoke to let the public know if a pope was selected or not. Father Lombardi said that burning the ballots with wet or dry straw had made the right color, but never really created enough smoke to offer a clear signal.

In order to begin the preparations, the chapel, where the conclave will take place, was officially closed to tourists March 5.

Maintaining secrecy is part of the cardinals' oath, and technicians sweep the chapel for electronic surveillance or recording devices before the conclave.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told journalists March 6 that jamming devices are used to disable cellphone signals, but that they are not installed under the false flooring as had been reported in the past.

However, even the innocuous climate sensors dotted about the chapel will be dismantled to remove any suspicion of being spied on, said Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums.

The head of the Vatican police, Domenico Giani, said it would be a good idea to take them down, "perhaps to avoid every feeling and fear, too, of Big Brother," Paolucci told the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero March 6.

Even though the sensors don't present a security risk, the head of the Vatican police force "wanted to avoid even what might be the most minimal psychological discomfort," the museums' director said.

The sensors were eventually going to be replaced anyway, he said, when the museums install a new climate-control system for the chapel.

Security concerns are so tight that it looks as though, during the voting sessions, cardinals will not be allowed to use the museum lavatories, Paolucci said.

"Something different has been decided on; I believe they may be installing portable chemical toilets inside the chapel," he said.

A few other areas of the Vatican Museums will also be closed in the run-up to and during the conclave because of their proximity to the chapel, he said.

Cordoned off to the public will be the Borgia apartments, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Matisse and Manzu halls, he said.

Though they blocked reservations for visits to the chapel as soon as retired Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation Feb. 11, Paolucci said, the museums still had to spend weeks contacting individuals and groups who had already made advanced reservations.

More than 5 million people stream through the Sistine Chapel each year, and many were bound to be disappointed the chapel would be closed for an unspecified amount of time in March; however, people have been very understanding, he said.

"If the Sistine Chapel were closed because a custodian called in sick, then they would complain, but in this case, they get it," he said.

From the outside, the only sign of the conclave proceedings will emerge from the smokestack on top of the chapel's roof. Barely visible from St. Peter's Square, it is kept in the viewfinder of telephoto lenses until a new pope is elected and white smoke pours out.

 The Pandora Avenue hotel began life in 1911 as the upscale Westholme. It housed a swank restaurant boasting an orchestra and “a brigade of 50 waiters,” said Sarah Smith, co-creator of a new play exploring the hotel’s chequered history.

Over the years, the hotel boasted an Arabian Nights theme and a groovy beatnik hangout that, according to legend, attracted a young David Foster. There were rumours of ghosts, suicides, shady characters and ladies of the night.

Smith and her writing partner, Sadie Forbes, are the writers of Ghosts of the Plaza — a one-hour romp chronicling the Victoria Plaza Hotel in all its incarnations. Following sold-out shows in November, these first-time playwrights and the show’s producer, burlesque dancer Miss Rosie Bitts, have remounted Ghosts of the Plaza for a two-night run at Odd Fellows Hall.

 For a decade, Smith — who holds a University of Victoria degree in women’s studies —waitressed at Monty’s Showroom Pub. The strip club, which shut down in January, achieved international infamy in 2005 thanks to a National Enquirer story headlined, Matt LeBlanc: My Wild Night with a Stripper. (Actor LeBlanc played Joey on the TV sitcom Friends.)

Smith always loved the low-rent dinginess of Monty’s. Eventually, that interest extended to the hotel itself. She explored its basement, stuffed with discarded beds, lamps and other detritus. Underneath, she saw the floor was richly decorated with mosaic tile, a legacy of more prosperous days.

Smith and Forbes — also a history buff — started researching the Victoria Plaza Hotel. In the city archives they found an old newspaper story detailing the Westholme Hotel’s glorious opening.

By the 1920s and ’30s, the hotel had lapsed into ill repute, its rooms favoured by prostitutes. A rebirth came in the 1960s with an Arabian Nights-themed revamp. Staff sported turbans and harem outfits. Central to the decor was a working model of the Centennial Square fountain.