In the early morning of St. Peter’s Basilica, sunlight filters through the stained glass of the dome, casting tiny patches of light in front of St. Peter’s tomb. Polish pilgrim Maria held a silver-gray MC200 receiver, her fingertips gently rubbing against the casing. She had just finished listening to the explanation of “The Marmartyrs of Saint Peter”. There was no English noise from the neighboring team, only the faint sound of the explanation mixed with the burning of candles, as quiet as if she were having a dialogue with her faith. This World Heritage site, which can accommodate 60,000 people for prayer and combines Romanesque and Baroque styles, welcomes over 4 million overseas visitors each year. However, in the early years, the troubles of “noise disturbing the solemnity” and “art not being understood” always left visitors with regrets. It was not until the arrival of the Yingmi MC200 multi-channel zoned interpretation system that the guided Tours here truly lived up to its sanctity and solemnity.
I.It is difficult to guide the tour of St. Peter’s Basilica
Mark, the administrator of St. Peter’s Basilica, has been in charge of the tour guide equipment for eight years. Every time he talks about past troubles, he takes a look at the dome and says, “This is not a scenic area; it’s a sacred place for believers. Even the slightest noise would make it chaotic.” Each of these difficult problems bears the special attribute of the “sacred space” :
1. Multi-team noise
At least 10 overseas teams visit simultaneously every day. They talk about “Mourning Christ” in Chinese, “Dome” in English and “St. Peter’s Tomb” in Spanish. Traditional audio guides have few channels and their voices are always connected. Last Easter, a Chinese team was explaining Michelangelo’s carving techniques in front of the statue. Suddenly, the voices of the English team beside them came out. An Italian old believer who was praying in front of the tomb turned around and waved his hand, his brows furrowed so much that they could pick up shredded paper. A priest once told me, “The noise is like a church fair.” I felt extremely guilty when I heard that – how could this be a sign of respect for the holy land? Marco remembers that once, in order to make the tourists hear clearly, the guide deliberately raised the volume, which made the believers in the back row unable to close their eyes and pray, and they left on the spot.
2. Art and faith were not elaborated thoroughly
Every piece of work in the church holds a “double code” : Michelangelo’s “Mourning Christ” is not merely “a marble statue”, but also conceals the theological meaning of “the Virgin Mary’s acceptance of the crucifixion of Christ”. Each stroke of the dome Mosaic corresponds to a chapter of the Bible. But the previous explanations either only said “This is art” or only said “This is religion”, never tying the two together. American art scholar Tom walked around the “Mourning Christ” three times and asked the tour guide, “Why is the Virgin Mary’s hand gently supporting Christ’s back?” The tour guide only said, “Michelangelo carved it this way.” When asked again, “Is there any religious explanation?”, he couldn’t answer. Later, he wrote in the guestbook, “I saw the stone but didn’t understand faith.” I stared at that line of words for a long time and couldn’t close the book. Sophia, who is in charge of art explanations, said.
3. The equipment “talks nonsense”
The church holds four Masses every day and there are also large-scale ceremonies on weekends. During these times, visitors and explanations must be “silent”. But the previous equipment either couldn’t be turned off or would be disconnected when turned off and then turned on again. Last Sunday during the midday Mass, the equipment of a Japanese team suddenly rang. The explanation drifted far away in the quiet church. The priest had to stop what he was doing. Dozens of pairs of eyes in the audience stared at that team, feeling so embarrassed that they could crack a hole. The Mass is the root of the church and should not be disturbed by visitors. But tourists who come here also want to understand. There was really nothing we could do about this before.” Marco spread his hands and said.
Ii. Yingmi MC200: A tailor-made interpretation Plan for St. Peter’s Basilica
The Yingmi MC200 was originally designed for scenarios that require “multiple teams and quietness” (previously, it was used for the museum’s zoned explanations). This time, it was used for St. Peter’s Basilica, and every function was tailored to the needs:
1.There are 16 independent channels, each speaking independently without crosstalk
The MC200 uses 2.4G wireless transmission and can open 16 independent channels. It also divides the church into five areas: the St. Peter’s Tomb area, the “Mourning Christ” exhibition area, the dome area, the Raphael Oil painting area, and the main entrance square, with each area corresponding to its own dedicated channel. When the team enters a certain area, the guide will change the channel, and the tourists’ receivers will automatically synchronize, so there will be no more crossovers.
During the Easter peak season test, the Chinese team gave a lecture on “The School of Athens” in the oil painting area, the English team told the story of Saint Peter in the cemetery area, and the Spanish team talked about architecture at the dome – the three teams were only 5 meters apart at their closest point, but their voices were completely unrelated. A priest passed by and came over to ask Marco, “How did the tourists understand without hearing the explanations?” Marco handed him the MC200 receiver to look at. The priest touched it and said, “This is the equipment that a holy place should use.” What’s even more worry-free is that the channels don’t need to be manually switched. The equipment can automatically recognize the area, and the tour guide doesn’t have to be distracted by adjusting the equipment. They can just focus on speaking.
2. Pre-record in-depth content, art and faith “unite as one”
To thoroughly explain “art + faith”, Yingmi invited Father Riccardo from the Roman Theological Seminary and Laura, an expert in Florentine art history, to record and explain MC200 together – each section had to pass the review of the Vatican’s religious department to ensure that the theological expression was accurate:
When talking about “mourning Christ”, the Polish version would say, “The Virgin Mary held the suffering Christ in her arms, her gentle appearance conceals a firm acceptance of suffering – this is Michelangelo’s approach, and it is also the meaning of ‘redemption’ in faith.”
When talking about the dome, the Italian version would say, “The dome designed by Michelangelo has a diameter of 42 meters and is shaped like ascending to heaven. The interior murals are all stories from the Bible, and even the paints were specially mixed back then.”
American scholar Tom came for the second time, holding an MC200 and standing in front of “Mourning Christ” for 40 minutes. His notebook was filled with drawings: “Before, I only knew it was carved to look like it. Now I understand the faith in the gesture of the Virgin Mary. This is what it means to ‘understand’ art.”
3. The ceremony is automatically muted to avoid disturbing the faith
Yingmi is also connected to the management system of the church. The MC200 can receive the “ceremony signal” – as soon as the Mass is about to start, all receivers automatically pause the explanation and the screen jumps “Silence for ceremony”. After the ceremony is over, it can resume from where it was paused without the tourists having to do it manually.
Last Christmas Mass, the MC200 of all 12 teams were muted simultaneously, and only the priest’s chanting could be heard throughout the venue. A Japanese tourist gave Marco a thumbs-up, saying, “There’s no need to rush to turn off the equipment, nor did you miss the explanation. It’s so considerate.” Marco smiled and said, “Now I finally don’t have to choose between ‘visiting’ and ‘faith’.”
III. After using the MC200: Not Only can you hear clearly, but you can also “shop correctly”
The MC200 was used in St. Peter’s Basilica for six months. The changes were not just empty talk; they were witnessed by visitors and administrators.
1.Pilgrims can finally “have a quiet dialogue with faith”
Mary’s pilgrimage group now insists on using the MC200 every time they come: “Being able to hear the story of Saint Peter clearly without disturbing others’ prayers is what a pilgrimage should be like.” Complaints about “equipment disturbing ceremonies” in churches have dropped from 8 per month to zero. An elderly Italian believer wrote in the guestbook: “Thanks to this small device, the church has regained its due tranquility.”
2. Tourists really “understood” art
The number of tourists like Tom who are visiting for the second time has increased by 35%, and many people specifically follow the explanations of the MC200 to revisit. Tom brought his students for a study tour and pointed at “Mourning Christ”, saying, “MC200 explained it even more thoroughly than I prepared for my lesson. The students even understood the theological meaning in the wrinkles of their clothes.” The time visitors spend in the art exhibition area has increased from 25 minutes to 50 minutes, and the questions they ask have changed from “Who carved this?” to “Why was it carved this way?”
3. The workload for administrators has been reduced by half
Marco was flipping through the data with a smile and said, “Previously, there were 18 equipment complaints every month, but now there are only 2, and they are all about itinerary changes.” The equipment failure rate has dropped from 15% to 1%, and Luka no longer has to work overtime every day to repair the equipment. The average stay time of tourists has risen from 2 hours to 3.5 hours, and the number of people visiting for the second time has also increased by 28%. “This is the power of good equipment. Without us having to waste words, tourists are willing to stay longer on their own.”
IV. Yingmi’s “Globalization Confidence” : Making overseas users feel at ease when using it
Many overseas team leaders asked Marco, “Why is this device better to use than the one in Europe?” The answer lies in the 15-year accumulation of Yingmi:
1. Compliant and avoid pitfalls, meeting overseas standards
The MC200 not only passed the CE and ROHS certifications, but also met the “recyclable material” requirements of the European Union. A French team leader was worried that “it couldn’t be used in the Vatican”. Marco showed him the certification documents, and he signed a long-term cooperation agreement on the spot: “With these certificates, the headquarters will definitely be at ease.”
2. Local after-sales service, no need to wait for the time difference
Yingmi has set up an after-sales service point in Rome, which is only a 15-minute drive from the church. If there is any problem with the equipment, they will arrive within one hour. It also offers 7×24-hour trilingual customer service in English, Italian and Spanish. Once, the Spanish team sent an email at 2 a.m. saying, “I don’t know how to switch to the Spanish channel.” The customer service representative, Anna, replied to the video within half an hour and specially marked the location of the Spanish button, which didn’t interfere with the use at all.
Conclusion: Let every listening experience be worthy of the sacred
In the evening, the candles under the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica gradually lit up. Maria held the MC200 and finally stood in front of St. Peter’s tomb. The Polish language explanation from the receiver gently wafted out: “St. Peter has been here for over a thousand years, guarding the prayers of believers and the warmth of art…” She took out her notebook and, by the candlelight, wrote, “This small device has brought me closer to my faith.”
What the Yingmi MC200 did at St. Peter’s Basilica was not merely “transmitting sounds”, but also “preserving the scene” – it maintained the solemnity of the sacred place and the depth of art, allowing every overseas visitor, whether a pilgrim or a tourist, to understand this church in tranquility. In the future, Yingmi also plans to add some new features to the MC200: a dedicated Easter commentary, as well as Arabic and Russian, to enable more people to hear the story of St. Peter’s Basilica.
After all, a good tour guide should not be “disturbing”, but “accompanying” – like the light of a dome, quietly illuminating every heart that desires to understand. If you need a multi-channel zoned explanation system, I recommend Yingmi.