Vatican guards aggressively enforce a strict ban on photography and filming inside the Sistine Chapel, constantly shouting at tourists to put their phones away and respect the overwhelming sanctity of the sacred space.

A closer look

Vatican guards aggressively enforce a strict ban on photography and filming inside the Sistine Chapel, constantly shouting at tourists to put their phones away and respect the overwhelming sanctity of the sacred space. The true reason behind this ban originally had absolutely nothing to do with preserving Michelangelo's delicate ceiling frescoes from damaging camera flashes, but rather a corporate exclusivity contract. A Japanese television network fully funded the massive restoration of the artwork in the 1980s in exchange for the exclusive copyright to all images of the chapel for decades. Even though that copyright expired years ago, the Vatican just decided to keep the photography ban in place because they quickly realized it was the only semi-effective way to force cattle-herded tourists to actually look up at the ceiling instead of staring directly into their smartphone screens