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A new suit of armor being made for the Vatican Swiss Guard is seen on Jan. 21, 2013 at the Schmiede Schmidberger workshop in Molln, Austria.

Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters, file

Swiss Guards stand before Pope Benedict XVI makes an address from a balcony in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City on Dec. 25, 2012.

The Vatican has contracted a family of blacksmiths in an Austrian village to manufacture 80 new sets of armor in a project that will take seven years to complete.

Most of the existing armor worn by the Vatican's Swiss Guard dates back at least 100 years when people were generally smaller than they are today, so the existing armor does not always fit today's bulkier guards.

The firm of blacksmiths, Schmiede Schmidberger, is a family-run operation that has been in existence since the year 1350.

-- Getty Images

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Mathias Kniepeiss / Getty Images

Blacksmith Georg Schmidberger crafts a piece of metal that will become part of a suit of armor.

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The design for a new suit of armor.

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Tools in the Schmiede Schmidberger workshop.

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An exterior view of the workshop.

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Johann Schmidberger Senior works on the Swiss Guard armor.

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Schmiede Schmidberger is a family-run operation that has been in existence since the year 1350.