The Travel Channel has launched a new show called, "Mysteries at the Museum." It seems as though there are always mysteries unraveling inside Vatican City. The Da Vinci Code has some fun with their story lines
stemming from this iconic location, but I wonder...what secrets and
mysteries lurk at the Vatican. A big mystery occurred to me when I
visited this landmark in 2008.

My husband and I found ourselves swept along through the vast corridors
of the Vatican Museum, pressed in on all sides by a huge throng of
people. The art was truly amazing and literally everywhere--on the
ceilings, walls, and even the floors. It was a chaotic experience and
one I would equate to a noisy cattle drive. The corridor went on for
what seemed like forever, but eventually ended at a small doorway.

The door opens and almost before I know it, we are standing in the
Sistine Chapel. All of the noise and chatter streaming in from the
Vatican Museum mysteriously comes down to a stunned whisper as if on cue
from a musical conductor. We stand in awe and reverence, whispering
amongst ourselves as we take in the magnificence of the room. A feeling
of peace envelopes us all until it is shattered by the guards who are
standing under Michelangelo’s mural, “The Last Day of Judgment,”
screaming, “Silencio!”

As if shaken out of a dream, with a look of surprise, we stared at the
guards disgustedly for distracting us out of our euphoria. Soon the
whispers begin again and again the guards are screaming, “Silencio!” We
found this happening every few minutes as more people made their way
into the chapel. Ironically, the ones making the most noise were the
guards themselves, which I found hilarious and had all I could do not to
match their noise level with a fit of laughter.

After I could take it no longer, we ventured to the other side of the
room and found ourselves in St. Peter's Basilica; where St. Peter is
buried. St. Peter is perhaps the most popular of Jesus' disciples and is
memorialized in time with images of himself hanging upside down on a
crucifix.

Ironically, people were milling around in this most sacred edifice,
talking among themselves using their street voices. There are no guards
yelling, “Silencio” and I begin to wonder, if we don’t have to show St.
Peter a tone of reverence, then just what is going on in The Sistine
Chapel? Is someone buried under the Sistine Chapel the Vatican isn’t
telling us about, and if so just who is it? The Vatican keeps their
secrets close if something is amiss. History is safe for the Vatican
will remain “Silencio!”