[daniel1212]

Is there any archive or museum possessing artifacts of great antiquity, which allows Joe Public untrammeled access, to do as he pleases?

I was referring to the tone of statements made to the effect that the Vatican Archives were an exception.

[marshmallow]

I was referring to the tone of statements made to the effect that the Vatican Archives were an exception.

I detected no such "tone" because there is none.

The principal point of the article is that the archives are not "secret". IOW, the title "Vatican Secret Archives" is a misnomer.

There is no colletion of precious, historical documents or artifacts anywhere, that is not maintained under some form of restricted access.