However, I have always wondered how in the scorching summer sun, which floods the floor of the courtyard and literally lights it up to red, Swiss guards can stand for hours. In full gear, in a woolen uniforms and often in a metal helmets with a tuft of feathers on their heads. Because, not only the majestic shape of the buildings surrounding the courtyard and symmetrical arcades attract the eye and arouse admiration. It is the guards in their Renaissance costumes that complement the beauty of this place. They enchant guests who come to the Papal door, but also those who with them continue to serve a good few hours, and every day.
– Without the guard, nothing would be the same here. The presence of soldiers has always made the atmosphere in the Court of St. Damasus even more solemn. And, the most beautiful was during official visits, when heads of state and crowned heads came to John Paul II. Then, from the morning, you could feel something special in the air. Already an hour before the planned visit to the courtyard, guards in gala costumes, with tuft of feathers, lined up in a row. There were as many as twenty-four of them – it was impressive! We also had special outfits with patches and Peter’s keys in the jacket. There was fanfare, a red carpet, the so-called gentiluomini di Sua Santità – “gentlemen of His Holiness” who, with the Prefect of the Papal Household at the head, took guests of honor when, for example, a presidential limousine drove up to them.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
pages: 37 – 38
