The Keeper of the Keys
June 18, 2018 6:51 PM   Subscribe

 
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]


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]


« Older Music to do nothing to   |   Meet Mr. Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments