The Vatican Library
Address: Vatican Library
Cortile del Belvedere
A quick tour of the Holy See
Italy was ruled by Popes for Thousands of years until many of the Papal states were seized by the newly united kingdom of Italy.
In 1870 Rome was annexed and many of the property held by popes where destroyed, divided or confiscated.
This lead to disputes between the Popes and the Kingdom of Italy, until in 1929 they formed the Lateran Treaty which established the independent state of the Vatican City in Rome and Roman Catholicism was granted ‘special Status’.
The Vatican City is Located in Rome and is the main jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, this were all catholic laws and publications are made.
The Vatican City is also the residence of the Pope within the Apostolic Palace.
The Vatican City contains
Museums
St Peters Basilica
The Sistine Chapel
St peters Square
The Vatican library
The City is contained by The Vatican gardens and is patrolled by a very popular tourist attraction: the Swiss guards
The Library
The Vatican library is located within the Vatican City and was officially opened within the Vatican by Pope Nicholas V in 1448. It houses one of the world's best collections of illuminated manuscripts. It includes the oldest known complete Bible, dating from about 325 and believed to have been one of the 50 bibles commissioned by Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Roman leader.
The Library is located next to the museums within the Salone Sistino.
Domenico Fontana built the elongated gallery and salon, which was commissioned by Sixtus V (1585-90).
The Vatican Library is made up of the following rooms:
The Room of Messages (sent to Pius IX); Chapel of St. Pius V;
Room of Messages (sent to Leo XIII and Pius X); Room of the Aldobrandini Wedding; Room of the Papyri;
Sacred Museums, designed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1756;
The Gallery of Urban VIII,
The Sistine Rooms
The Sistine Hall
It is a specialised library that contains items on theology, law and science. Many of its holdings are reserved for scientific research and the study of manuscripts, printed books, coins and medals, prints, graphics and cartography.
The Vatican Library mission statements states that the Libraries responsibilities are:
“The primary task of the Vatican Library, as an institution of both conservation and research, is to keep and conserve as carefully as possible the cultural treasures which have been entrusted to it. Further responsibilities include:
1. increasing its holdings of manuscripts, printed books and coins through acquisitions, exchanges and donations, in accordance with the materials already present in the collections and with the purpose of the institution;
- Studying and promoting knowledge of these materials through the work of the Library’s regular and supernumerary staff, and by means of publications.
- Making available to qualified readers from around the world, with all necessary caution, both the originals and reproductions of the various types of documents and objects preserved in the Library, and providing for these readers all possible and appropriate scientific and technical assistance to their research, continually updating the instruments and aids which are helpful or necessary for their work. See details here
The Vatican library is not a public institution although some scholars may ask permission to use it resources. The library has committed to creating an environment that allows readers to study the materials.
Some 4,000 to 5,000 scholars are given permission to conduct research in the library every year; access is generally restricted to academics conducting post-graduate level research.
In September 2010 the Vatican library reopened after being closed for 3 years for renovations so that scholars would be able to come and research with in it.
The renovation involved an update of its catalogue system and security system.
Admittance into the library is allowed to researchers and scholars with appropriate qualifications and/or relevant scientific publications;
teachers and researchers at Universities and other institutes of Higher Education;
Graduate students (laureati) who are pursuing research for a doctoral dissertation.
In exceptional cases, undergraduate students may be admitted if they can demonstrate that they need to consult material which is available only at the Vatican Library.
it is not open to High School students, nor, as a rule, to undergraduate University students.
The Library of Congress issued a press release about the Vatican library in 1998 stating “There are 2 million cards in the card catalog. Every year about 6,000 new volumes are added. About 25 percent are purchased; the rest are donations. The staff numbers 80 in five departments: manuscripts and archival collections; printed books and drawings; accessions and cataloguing; the coin collections and musei; restoration and photography. Use of the Vatican Library is restricted to scholars with a letter of introduction from their university or institution describing their project.”
They must also provide:
An introductory letter with their qualifications and Identification.
None of the items in the library can be checked out and there are extremely strict rules to follow:
No pens, food or even water are allowed in the manuscript reading room.
Staff of the Vatican (Hierarchy)
Cardinal Archivist and Librarian of The Holy Roman Church
His Most Reverend Eminence: Cardinal. Raffaele Farina, S.D.B.
Prefect
Msgr. Cesare Pasini
Department directors
Secretary
Bursar
Staff
Collections in the Library
Vatican Library holds almost 2 million printed books and serials; 75,000 Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Ethiopian, Syriac and other manuscripts from the 2nd Century A.D. on; 65,000 units of archival volumes in 23 deposits or fondi; 100,000.prints, engravings, maps and drawings; 330,000 Greek, Roman and papal coins and medals.
The Library is made up of five main collections:
Manuscripts
Archives
Printed Books
Coins and medals
The secret Archives – this is a separate collection that is inaccessible to the public.
The Manuscript and Archival collections
This collection contains over 80,000 manuscripts and 100,000 archival units,
There are several notable manuscripts in the collections such as the:
- Vergilius Vaticanus
Vergilius Vaticanus is the best preserved example of a book illustrated in the Greco-Roman tradition and constitutes one of the oldest sources of Virgil’s great epic poem Aeneid. Made in Rome around 400 A.D., it also is the oldest of only three existing classical manuscripts containing illustrated classical literature.
- Vergilius Romanus
Is possibly a 15 centuary contempary book from Britain,It is written in an elegant hand, comprising 309 folios of 333x332 mm in size, and contains 19 color illumination in a Late Antique style
- Barberini Gospels
The `Barberini Gospels` is an illuminated Hiberno-Saxon manuscript Gospel Book (Rome, Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica, Barberini Lat. 570, also known as the `Wigbald Gospels`), assumed to be of a late eighth century origin.
- Joshua Roll
The Joshua Roll is a Byzantine illuminated manuscript of highly unusual format, probably of the 10th century Macedonian Renaissance, believed to have been created by artists of the Imperial workshops in Constantinople.
- De arte venandi cum avibus (the Art of hunting with birds)
An early monograph great value to zoologists-especially the ornithologist, interestingly this has been translated and reproduced in book form that may be purchased
- Vatican Croatian Prayer Book
Created in 1400 and thought to be one of the earliest prayer books found.
Printed book Collection
The printed book collection contains over 1,600,000 printed books; this collection is predominantly made of old and rare books and Incunabula. The world’s oldest bible is also said to be housed here.The department is also responsible for the books that are made available to scholars, deals with acquisitions of new publications and sometimes exchange the material with other academic institutions.
Coins and Medals collection
The Numismatic Cabinet or Medagliere of the Vatican Library preserves coins, medals, seals, foil strips, plaques, engraved stones, casts, and other similar materials. It also keeps the official pontifical medals and coins. The collection includes about 300,000 pieces. The work of the Department consists of inventorying, classifying and cataloguing this material, and making it available to scholars. Il Catalogue of coins and medals is available on-line here
300,000 coins and medals
Roman coins of the Republican Period
Roman coins of the Imperial Period
Coins found in the Roman Catacombs
Byzantine coins
Pontifical coins (the largest collection in the world)
Coins of the cities and dominions of Italy
Coins from other countries, including a large number of Oriental (especially Chinese) coins
Papal medals (the largest and most complete collection in the world)
Italian medals, from the Renaissance to the present day
Medals from other countries, from the Renaissance to the present day
Pontifical lead bulls
Seals
Roman lead tesserae
Roman engraved stones from the Imperial Period
Sulphur and plaster casts of gems, coins and medals
Plaques
Tablets
The Secret Archives
The Vatican Secret Archives is the central repository places were all new formally proclaimed or declared statutory or administrative law is kept after its enactment by the Holy See.
These archives also contain the state papers, correspondence, papal account books, and many other documents which the church has accumulated over the centuries
The word ‘secret’ in the name the secret Archives does not means secretive, instead it comes from the original meaning of ‘private’ as these materials are not available to the public and are form part of the popes private collection.
The Vatican Secret Archives have been estimated to contain 52 miles (84 km) of shelving, and there are 35,000 volumes in the selective catalogue alone.
Conclusion
The Vatican Library is not just a place of architectural beauty nor just a place where the roman catholic church stores its books, the Vatican Library is an extremely important place of historical value to all communities.
It does not just function as a library but also serves to store, repair and contain resources of great importance.
They are currently digitalising their archives to ensure that the beautiful and rare resources they contain will be available to scholars, museums and other academic places for many years to come.
Refrences
Refrences
Holy See Vatican City 2011, The world factbook, Veiwed October 24 2011,
The Vatican Library and its history 2008, Library of congress, viewed October 24 2011 <http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/History.html>
Witaki K 2011, The Vatican secret archives, The Borgias, viewed October 24 2011
Winfeild N 2010, The vatcian library reopens its doors, Veiwed October 24 2011,
The Vatican secret archives 2011 The Vatcian Secret Archives, Veiwed October 24 2011 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7i_9TC-jvI>
Weinberg A 2011, The coins of the Vatican ,The E-Sylum: Volume 14, Number 17, April 24, 2011, Article 21, Veiwed October 24 2011
