A Century of Popemobiles Goes on Show Inside the Vatican Museums

Eight historic popemobiles have gone on display at the Vatican Museums in an exhibition tracing how papal transport has evolved over nearly a century, Euronews reported. The vehicles on show range from silk-lined limousines to cars fitted with bulletproof glass.

The Mercedes-Benz name runs through the story. The German manufacturer has been associated with papal vehicles for much of the past century, and the popemobile as most visitors recognise it — a saloon or off-road vehicle with a raised cabin behind the driver — belongs to that lineage. Euronews frames the exhibition around evolution rather than engineering: how a pope travels, and how that travel is staged for crowds.

Armour is part of the history. The bulletproof glass in the later vehicles follows the 1981 shooting of John Paul II in St Peter's Square, after which the open cars used for audiences and processions were progressively enclosed.