Project Title:  Vatican Museums - Digital Signage 

Media Category: Digital Signage

Museum/ Institution: Vatican Museums - Vatican City, Italy  

Program Created: February 2011 

Program URL:  

Vatican Museums Website-

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

Panasonic Press Releases-

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Vatican-Museum-is-Powered-by-Panasonic-PDPs-Might-Soon-Go-3D-181817.shtml

http://news.panasonic.net/archives/2011/0203_4066.html

Project Image(s) and/or Video

New digital signage:

103" HD Display!!!:

Old static signage:

Wait for free tickets:

Media Sources/Credits:

1st image was taken 3/4/11 from http://news.softpedia.com/news/Vatican-Museum-is-Powered-by-Panasonic-PDPs-Might-Soon-Go-3D-181817.shtml

2nd & 3rd images were taken 3/4/11 from http://news.panasonic.net/archives/2011/0203_4066.html

4th image was taken 3/4/11 from http://www.pbase.com/bmcmorrow/image/115468848

5th image was taken 3/4/11 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Museums

Program Description:

With an annual visitation rate of approximately 4 million people a year, the Vatican Museums needed to update their signage (the bottom photo is a partial shot of the line waiting for free tickets, which the Vatican gives out on the last Sunday of each month.) With such massive numbers and an international audience, digital signage makes the most sense for distributing a lot of information quickly and in a number of languages. In the 4th image you can see the number of sites the Vatican Museums has to be able to direct visitors to and how all that information could become overwhelming on a static sign.

According to Panasonic, ten Plasma screens were placed in and around the Vatican Museum's main entrance to help direct visitors, display museum information and play videos. Nine of those ten screens are either 50" or 65" displays and the last one is Panasonic's massive 103" screen! An additional thirty-two 42" screens were placed behind-the-scenes in the Vatican's Control and Security rooms.

Secondary review/critique:  

I could not make it to the Vatican firsthand to review these screens, but the various press releases (which seems to have been put out by Panasonic as opposed to the Vatican) describe the screens well. It took some digging to find a suitable photo of the 103" screen and I have to say it doesn't seem nearly as impressive as I imagined in its marble hallway/stairwell setting. I also felt the 4 large screens in the main entry were underwhelming, even for their size. While I'm sure the content is helpful considering the sheer volume of visitors utilizing them, the Vatican did not seem to make any effort to blend these screens in with their surroundings. In fact, a cord is visible running down the column in the first image. For a museum that has such valuable works in its collection, it seems that aesthetics was not a consideration on this project.

There is talk of the Vatican considering an additional 103" display, this time in 3D, in their Congress Room (I suspect this is not a place the public can access.) I am very curious about the applications of a 3D screen in a museum and wonder if it will be worth the reported $100,000.00 price tag (http://news.softpedia.com/news/Panasonic-103-Inch-Full-HD-3D-Plasma-Display-On-Sale-for-100-000-US-Dollars-166926.shtml).

Technologies incorporated:

Panasonic HD Plasma Displays, centralized routing capabilities 

Internally or externally produced:

Content produced internally all other components outsourced 

Entry Contributor and Date: Krista Menacher :: 3/4/11 

Related projects:  Possible addition of a 103" 3D screen in the Congress Room in the future