On the occasion of theJubilee Year 2025, Castel Sant’Angelo opens its halls to the exhibition John Paul II. The Man, the Pope, the Saint in the Shots of Gianni Giansanti, a visual journey that restores a glimpse of Karol Wojtyla ’s life through the lens of one of the photographers who has followed his pontificate the longest, Gianni Giansanti. The exhibition, open to the public from July 17 to Nov. 30, 2025, was presented at an institutional preview in the presence of several institutional figures, including Luca Mercuri, acting director of Castel Sant’Angelo, Massimo Osanna, director general of Museums, curators Massimo Bray and Ilaria Schiaffini, the heirs of theGiansanti Archives, Giorgio Sotira, CEO of Civita Exhibitions and Museums, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Italy Ryszard Schnepf and the President of the VII Culture, Science and Education Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Federico Mollicone.
The initiative is promoted and realized by the Ministry of Culture, the Pantheon Institute and Castel Sant’Angelo - Directorate of National Museums of the City of Rome, under the patronage of the Lazio Region, the Embassies of Poland in Italy and at the Holy See, the Center for Documentation and Study of the Pontificate of John Paul II - John Paul II Vatican Foundation and the Pontifical Polish College. It is organized by Civita Exhibitions and Museums, in collaboration with the Giansanti Archive and with the involvement of Rai Teche. The media partnership is entrusted to Rai Cultura and TV2000.
“Offering its audiences the exhibition John Paul II, the Man, the Pope, the Saint,” says Acting Director Luca Mercuri, “means, for Castel Sant’Angelo, reaffirming its vocation as a place of memory and dialogue with the present. Always a bridge between the Rome of the Caesars and that of the Popes, between power and spirituality, between the civil and religious dimensions of the city, Castel Sant’Angelo today welcomes a protagonist who has profoundly marked our time. John Paul II, told through the gaze of Gianni Giansanti, finds a natural collocation here, continuing to speak to the world with a universal message of peace and dignity.”
“The Directorate General of Museums is committed to promoting a vision of cultural heritage as a space for dialogue, inclusion and reflection,” says Director General of Museums Massimo Osanna. “In this framework, initiatives such as the one hosted at Castel Sant’Angelo confirm the role of museums not only as places of conservation, research and fruition, but also as cultural presidia open to contemporaneity. The exhibition dedicated to John Paul II, through the eyes of Gianni Giansanti, offers an opportunity to reread a figure who marked recent history with a universal message of spirituality, solidarity and dialogue among peoples.”
The focus of the exhibition revolves around the work of Roman photographer Giansanti, who accompanied John Paul II for decades, documenting his pontificate in all its aspects: from major public events to religious ceremonies, from apostolic journeys to institutional meetings, and moments of meditation and solitude. The more than 40 photographs on display make it possible to visually follow the entire 27-year span of his pontificate, from his election in 1978 to the last days of 2005. Among the episodes represented are key moments such as the attack he suffered in St. Peter’s Square in 1981, the Jubilee of 2000, and meetings with heads of state and religious leaders around the world.
One of the best-known images shows John Paul II in the act of opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica to inaugurate the Third Millennium Jubilee. Alongside the photographs, the exhibit also includes a number of objects related to the figure of the Pontiff, including the Jubilee ring used on that very occasion.
The images are curated by Ilaria Schiaffini, professor of History of Photography at Sapienza University of Rome. Her work also aims to restore the Pope’s personal and spiritual dimension. Indeed, Giansanti’s approach, which won the prestigious World Press Photo Award in 1988, is characterized by his ability to access a level of intimacy usually precluded to photographers. One of the most eloquent testimonies to this privilege is the shot of John Paul II having breakfast in the Apostolic Palace with Cardinal Stephen Kim, in a familiar and informal setting.
“In tracing the salient moments of John Paul II’s pontificate,” adds Ilaria Schiaffini, professor of History of Photography at Sapienza University of Rome, “the exhibition offers a privileged look at an era of great transformations: the end of the Cold War and the entry of the world into the global era. Leading this tale in images is Gianni Giansanti, an extraordinarily talented photographer who followed the Pope for more than two decades, and who still awaits full recognition of his role as a visual witness to history.”
“Giansanti’s shots, and in general, the various articulations of the exhibition project us into the life of an extraordinary Man and a Saint who is, in everyone’s memory , John Paul II,” emphasizes Giorgio Sotira, CEO of Civita Exhibitions and Museums. “It is impossible to separate these two aspects exactly as it is impossible to understand him without analyzing the various stages of his life, starting from the deep bond he had with his Poland to the leadership of the Universal Church throughout the World, which he strengthened with his 104 apostolic journeys. ”Man is not made to live alone": this is how the Supreme Pontiff taught us in the Encyclical Fides et Raio, and so I hope that this exhibition, addressed to the public for collective enjoyment and experience, will enable numerous people to fully grasp those traits charged with Humanity and Spirituality."
"The exhibition John Paul II, the Man, the Pope, the Saint - in the Shots of Gianni Giansanti is an encounter between two extraordinary destinies that have marked our time,“ says the Chairman of the Cultural Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Hon. Federico Mollicone. ”I knew both protagonists and, for me, this event has personal and institutional value. John Paul II was a central figure in the history of the 20th century, capable of changing the course of Europe. Gianni Giansanti was able to capture with his art the human and spiritual dimension of the Pontiff, telling the story through powerful and universal images. In this jubilee year, it is fitting to celebrate two men who, with different but complementary languages, have turned their work into a mission for humanity."
The photographic dimension is complemented by an in-depth biography curated by Massimo Bray, Director General of the Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani. In the first room of the Upper Armory exhibition space, a timeline enriched with personal objects, documents and audiovisual materials traces the main stages of Karol Wojtyla’s life. Materials on display include the cassock worn during his time as a cardinal, the kneeler used for prayer and a signed copy of the encyclical Fides et Ratio. Videos granted by Rai Teche and Vatican Media complete the narrative, offering a layered, multimedia narrative that accompanies visitors from Wojtyla’s youth in Poland to his beatification.
“Gianni Giansanti’s shots recount some unforgettable moments in the life and works of John Paul II, bearing witness to the extraordinary scope of the third longest pontificate in history,” says Massimo Bray, curator of the exhibition. “From the very beginning, the Pope wanted to proclaim the universal value of Christ’s message in defense of individual freedom, the dignity of every human being, the sacredness of life, and the need for admission of guilt and forgiveness to achieve true reconciliation and build a just peace among peoples. Faced with the challenges of the contemporary world, he called on the Church and the whole world to seek truth with reason and faith, opposing a drift without moral values.”
“Preparing this exhibition I traced thirty-one years of my family, of a father who always appeared and disappeared with cameras slung over his shoulder,” says Andrea Giansanti. “Growing up I understood that Gianni had a unique gaze, capable of capturing the humanity behind the sacred, the man behind the pontiff. His discretion was the core of his method: being there without casting shadows, documenting without ever forcing the scene. Today, to cherish this archive is to believe that memory, if shared, continues to speak. In each shot is the story of two men bound by a deep respect and a shared mission: to tell the story of faith through the lens.”
The goal of the exhibition is to provide a comprehensive and documented representation of the figure of John Paul II, emphasizing the communicative power of Giansanti’s images while enriching the journey with material and documentary evidence. The result is a portrait that crosses the boundaries of the photographic chronicle to enter the territory of collective memory, where the public and private images of the Pontiff intertwine. At the conclusion of the itinerary, the exhibition will be accompanied by the publication of a volume edited by Treccani, currently under preparation, which will collect part of the exhibition material and critical contributions, further expanding the reflection on the figure of John Paul II and Gianni Giansanti’s visual approach.
Admission: Tuesday through Sunday - 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Closed Mondays
Tickets: Full € 16.00 - Reduced € 2.00 (18-25 years old)
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| John Paul II in the images of Gianni Giansanti on display at Castel Sant'Angelo |
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