Interesting Culture

Vatican displays a hundred-year history of the pope's vehicles

The exhibition "A Century of the Popemobile" opened at the Vatican Museums on October 29 and will run until January 31, 2027. It presents eight popemobiles from 1930 to 2012, all made by Mercedes-Benz. The oldest is the Nürburg 460 limousine, presented to Pope Pius XI in 1930, with an armchair upholstered in raspberry-colored silk brocade. The modern look took shape in 1980, when the 230 G with a transparent high enclosure was built for John Paul II's visit. From the following year, popemobiles began to use armored glass after the assassination attempt on the pope. According to Sandro Barbagallo, curator of the Vatican Museums' historical collections department, the popemobile allows people to see the pope, and the pope to see the people.