The Vatican rented out the Sistine Chapel for a corporate event Saturday, marking the first time in history it has done so.
A group of 40 people, on a tour of Rome arranged by automaker Porsche, paid around $5,856-$6,366 each for the tour and the privilege to have a “magnificent concert in the stylish setting of the Sistine Chapel arranged exclusively for the participants,” according to Porsche’s website.
“It’s a one-off event and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” a Porsche spokesman said, according to the Telegraph.
The Vatican insisted that it did not actually rent out the chapel, which was built between 1473 and 1484.
It has hosted concerts before, but only for private audiences of the pope.
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“The Sistine Chapel can never be rented because it is not a commercial place,” Vatican spokesman Monsignor Paolo Nicolini told Religion News Service.
The funds raised through the event will go directly to charities of the pope’s choosing, Nicoloni added. Neither the Vatican nor Porsche would disclose how much the automaker paid to hold the concert in the chapel.
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