The Pontifical Swiss Guard, explained

Most visitors meet the Swiss Guard the same way, standing stock-still beside a sentry box with a halberd and a striped uniform that looks borrowed from a Renaissance painting. It’s the photo everyone takes. The story behind it is better than the photo, and it answers the question British searchers ask most often, which is why a small state in the middle of Rome is guarded by soldiers from Switzerland.

Why Swiss soldiers guard the Pope

It goes back to one decision. On 22 January 1506, 150 Swiss soldiers led by Captain Kaspar von Silenen entered Rome in the pay of Pope Julius II, who blessed them on arrival. That date is still treated as the Guard’s founding day.

What turned a hired company into something closer to a family tradition happened 21 years later. On 6 May 1527, imperial troops stormed the city in the Sack of Rome. Of the 189 guards on the roll, 147 were killed defending the Pope. The 42 who survived got Clement VII to safety in Castel Sant’Angelo, along the raised corridor known as the Passetto. The corps has served every Pope since.

So the honest answer is historical rather than practical. Nobody picked the Swiss in a modern tender. The arrangement began in 1506 and each Pope has kept it.

Who is allowed to join

The Guard publishes its conditions of entry, and they are narrow. Every recruit must be a Swiss national and a practising Catholic, male, single when he joins and aged between 19 and 30. The reference height is 1.74 m. Candidates need a completed apprenticeship with the federal AFC certificate or the school-leaving maturità, must have finished Swiss Army recruit school and must commit to at least 27 months.

Marriage is possible later on. Under the reform Pope Francis approved in 2018, any guard can ask to marry after five years of service. The same reform took the establishment from 110 to 135, which remains the official figure in 2026. That breaks down into 9 officers, 41 non-commissioned officers and 85 halberdiers, and Colonel Christoph Graf has been in command since 2015.

People also search for how much a Swiss Guard is paid. The Guard does not give a figure in its published conditions, and I’d rather not repeat numbers that circulate online without a source.

More than a sentry box

Standing at the gate is the part tourists see, and the smallest part of the job. The Guard’s official duties are the security of the Pope and his residence, travelling with him abroad, watching over the official entrances to the state, ceremonial duties, and protecting the College of Cardinals during a vacant see, the period between one pontificate ending and the next Pope being elected.

The guards also make up a striking share of the people who actually live in the Vatican. According to the Governorate, 246 citizens lived inside the walls at 31 December 2024, and 104 of them were Swiss Guards. The rest of the figures on the state itself are in our guide to Vatican City.

Swearing-in day, 6 May

New recruits take their oath every 6 May, the anniversary of the Sack of Rome, as a way of honouring the 147 who died in 1527. Families and dignitaries attend. In 2026, 28 recruits were sworn in before Pope Leo XIV.

It is the Guard’s own ceremony rather than a public event, so I wouldn’t plan a trip around it or expect to watch it from St Peter’s Square. If you happen to be in Rome that day, treat it as a nice coincidence.

That uniform, and the Michelangelo myth

You’ll often hear that Michelangelo designed the uniform. He didn’t, and the Guard says so on its own website. The dress uniform worn today was essentially the work of Commander Jules Repond, who led the corps from 1910 to 1921 and took his inspiration from frescoes by Raphael. The blue, red and yellow are the traditional colours of the Medici family.

The helmet is a silver morion, and the plume tells you the rank. Red is for halberdiers, dark violet for officers and white for the commander. The weapon everyone associates with them is the halberd, a long pole topped with an axe blade and a spike. Whether they carry anything more modern on duty isn’t something the official site spells out in what I’ve read, so I won’t claim either way.

Where you can see them for free

You don’t need a ticket. Three posts are easy to find.

• St Anne’s Gate (Porta Sant’Anna), on Via di Porta Angelica. It’s one of the entrances to the state and faces a normal Rome street, outside the square.
• The Bronze Door (Portone di Bronzo), at the far end of the right-hand colonnade in St Peter’s Square.
• The Arch of the Bells, to the left of St Peter’s Basilica, which is where the photo on this page was taken.

My advice is to fold this into the day rather than make it a separate outing. St Anne’s Gate sits along the walk between the square and the entrance to the Vatican Museums, and the Arch of the Bells is right in front of you as you come out of the basilica. A photo from a respectful distance is normally fine, but they are on duty, so keep out of the way of anyone going in or out.

The new barracks, on hold

The Guard lives in its own barracks within the Vatican. Plans to rebuild them were presented on 7 December 2023. The historic façades from the time of Pius IX, facing Via di Porta Angelica and Via Sant’Anna, will be kept, and everything behind them will be demolished and replaced.

Work hasn’t started. The Italian news agency ANSA reported in May 2026 that it won’t begin before 2027, and that the budget has grown from 45 to 70 million Swiss francs, more than 76 million euros. For anyone visiting in 2026 nothing changes, because the street façades are staying.