Vatican Library

Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana
(Vatican Apostolic Library)

File:Vatican Library logo.png
Pope Sixtus IV Appoints Bartolomeo Platina Prefect of the Vatican Library, fresco by Melozzo da Forlì, 1477, now in the Vatican Museums.
Country	Vatican City
Type	Research library
Established	1475  (1475)
Coordinates
Collection
Size	75,000 codices 1.1M printed books
Other information
Director	Jean-Louis Bruguès
Website	www.vaticanlibrary.va
Location on a map of Vatican City

The Vatican Apostolic Library (Latin: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly called the Vatican Library or simply the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally established in 1475, although it is much older, it is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. It currently has 75,000 codices from throughout history, as well as 1.1 million printed books, which include some 8,500 incunabula.

The Vatican Library is a research library for history, law, philosophy, science and theology. The Vatican Library is open to anyone who can document their qualifications and research needs. Photocopies for private study of pages from books published between 1801 and 1990 can be requested in person or by mail.

In March 2014, the Vatican Library began an initial four-year project of digitising its collection of manuscripts, to be made available online.

The Vatican Secret Archives were separated from the library at the beginning of the 17th century; they contain another 150,000 items.

Historical periods

Scholars have traditionally divided the history of the library into five periods, Pre-Lateran, Lateran, Avignon, Pre-Vatican and Vatican.

Pre-Lateran

The Pre-Lateran period, comprising the initial days of the library, dated from the earliest days of the Church. Only a handful of volumes survive from this period, though some are very significant.

Lateran

The Lateran era began when the library moved to the Lateran Palace and lasted until the end of the 13th century and the reign of Pope Boniface VIII, who died in 1303, by which time he possessed one of the most notable collections of illuminated manuscripts in Europe. However, in that year, the Lateran Palace was burnt and the collection plundered by Philip IV of France.

Avignon

The Avignon period was during the Avignon Papacy, when seven successive popes resided in Avignon, France. This period saw a great growth in book collection and record keeping by the popes in Avignon, between the death of Boniface and the 1370s when the Papacy returned to Rome.

Pre-Vatican

The Pre-Vatican period ranged from about 1370 to 1446. The library was scattered during this time, with parts in Rome, Avignon and elsewhere.

Vatican

In 1451, bibliophile Pope Nicholas V sought to establish a public library at the Vatican, in part to re-establish Rome as a destination for scholarship. Nicholas combined some 350 Greek, Latin and Hebrew codices inherited from his predecessors with his own collection and extensive acquisitions, among them manuscripts from the imperial Library of Constantinople. Pope Nicholas also expanded his collection by employing Italian and Byzantine scholars to translate the Greek classics into Latin for his library. The knowledgeable Pope already encouraged the inclusion of pagan classics. Nicolas was important in saving many of the Greek works and writings during this time period that he had collected while traveling and acquired from others.

In 1455, the collection had grown to 1200 books, of which 400 were in Greek language.

Nicholas' death in 1455 prevented the completion of his vision of a public library, but it was finished in 1475 by his successor Pope Sixtus IV, and named the Palatine Library. During the papacy of Sixtus IV, acquisitions were made in "theology, philosohy and atristic literature". The number of manuscripts is variously counted as 3,500 in 1475 or 2,527 in 1481, when librarian Bartolomeo Platina produced a signed listing. At the time it was the largest collection of books in the Western world.

During his reign, Pope Julius II commissioned the expansion of the building. Around 1587, Pope Sixtus V commissioned the architect Domenico Fontana to construct a new building for the library, which is still used today. It was after this the library became known as the Vatican Library.

During the Counter-Reformation, access to the library's collections was limited following the introduction of the Index of banned books. Scholars' access to the library was restricted, particularly Protestant scholars. Restrictions were lifted during the course of the 17th century, and Pope Leo XIII formally reopened the library to scholars in 1883.

In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte arrested Pope Pius VII, and removed the contents of the library to Paris. The contents were returned in 1817, three years after the defeat of Napoleon.

In 1992 the library had almost 2 million catalogued items.

In 1995 art history teacher Anthony Melnikas from Ohio State University stole three leaves from a medieval manuscript once owned by Francesco Petrarch. One of the stolen leaves contains an exquisite miniature of a farmer threshing grain. A fourth leaf from an unknown source was also discovered in his possession by the U.S. Customs agents. Melnikas was trying to sell the pages to an art dealer, who then alerted Father Leonard E. Boyle, the librarian director.

Location and building

Ancient Roman sculpture, maybe of Saint Hippolytus of Rome, found in 1551 at Via Tiburtina, Rome, and now at the Vatican Library

The Library is located inside the Vatican Palace, and the entrance is through the Belvedere Courtyard. When Sixtus commissioned the expansion and the new building of the Vatican Library, he had a three story wing built right across Bramante's Cortile del Belvedere, thus bisecting it and changing Bramante's work significantly. At the bottom of a grand staircase a large statue of Hippolytus decorates the La Galea entrance hall.

In the first semi-basement there is a papyrus room and a storage area for manuscripts. The first floor houses the restoration laboratory, and the photographic archives are on the second floor.

The Library has 42 kilometres (26 mi) of shelving.

The Library closed for renovations on 17 July 2007 and reopened 20 September 2010. The three year, 9 million euro renovation involved the complete shut down of the library to install climate controlled rooms.

Architecture and art

In the Sala di Consultazione or main reference room of the Vatican Library looms a statue of St Thomas Aquinas (c. 1910), sculpted by Cesare Aureli. A second version of this statue (c. 1930) stands under the entrance portico of the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum.

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  The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library.

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  Golden Rose stored in the Vatican Library.

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  Ceiling fresco of the sistine hall, photograph by Jean-Pol Grandmont

Library organization

Catalogue

The collection was originally organized through notebooks used to index the manuscripts. As the collection grew to more than a few thousand, shelf lists were used. The first modern catalogue system was put in place under Father Franz Ehrle between 1927 and 1939, using the Library of Congress card catalogue system. Ehrle also set up the first program to take photographs of important works or rare works. the library catalogue was further updated by Rev. Leonard E. Boyle when it was computerized in the early 1990s.

Reading and lending

Bookcase in the Vatican Library

Historically, during the Renaissance era, most books were not shelved but stored in wooden benches, which had tables attached to them. Each bench was dedicated to a specific topic. The books were chained to these benches, and if a reader took out a book, the chain remained attached to it. Until the early 17th century, academics were also allowed to borrow books. For important books, the pope himself would issue a reminder slip. Privileges to use the library could be withdrawn for breaking the house rules, for instance by climbing over the tables. Most famously Pico della Mirandola lost the right to use the library when he published a book on theology that the Papal curia did not approve of. In the 1760s, a bill issued by Clement XIII heavily restricted access to the library's holdings.

The Vatican Library can only be accessed by 200 scholars at a time, and it sees 4,000 to 5,000 scholars a year, mostly academics doing post-graduate research.

Collections

A miniature from the Syriac Gospel Lectionary (Vat. Syr. 559), created ca. 1220 near Mosul and exhibiting a strong Islamic influence.

While the Vatican Library has always included Bibles, canon law texts and theological works, it specialized in secular books from the beginning. Its collection of Greek and Latin classics was at the center of the revival of classical culture during the Renaissance age. The oldest documents in the library date back to the first century.

The library was founded primarily as a manuscript library, a fact reflected in the comparatively high ratio of manuscripts to printed works in its collection. Such printed books as have made their way into the collection are intended solely to facilitate the study of the much larger collection of manuscripts.

The collection also includes 330,000 Greek, Roman, and papal coins and medals.

Every year about 6,000 new books are acquired.

The library was enriched by several bequests and acquisitions over the centuries.

In 1623, the hereditary Palatine Library of Heidelberg containing about 3,500 manuscripts was given to the Vatican by Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria (who had just acquired it as booty in the Thirty Years' War) in thanks for the adroit political maneuvers of Pope Gregory XV that had sustained him in his contests with Protestant candidates for the electoral seat. A token 39 of the Heidelberg manuscripts were sent to Paris in 1797 and were returned to Heidelberg at the Peace of Paris in 1815, and a gift from Pope Pius VII of 852 others was made in 1816 to the University of Heidelberg, including the Codex Manesse. Aside from that, the Palatine Library remains in the Vatican Library to this day.

In 1657, the manuscripts of the Dukes of Urbino were acquired. In 1661, the Greek scholar Leo Allatius was made librarian.

Queen Christina of Sweden's important library (mostly amassed by her generals as booty from Habsburg Prague and German cities during the Thirty Years War) was bought by Pope Alexander VIII on her death in 1689. It represented, for all practical purposes, the entire royal library of Sweden at the time. If it had remained where it was in Stockholm, it would all have been lost in the destruction of the royal palace by fire in 1697.

Among the most famous holdings of the library is the Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209, the oldest known nearly complete manuscript of the Bible. The Secret History of Procopius was discovered in the library and published in 1623.

Pope Clement XI sent scholars into the Orient to bring back manuscripts, and is generally accepted as the founder of the Oriental section.

A School of library science is associated with the Vatican Library.

In 1959, a Film Library was established. This is not to be confused with the Vatican Film Library, which was established in 1953 at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Library has a large collection of texts related to Hinduism, with the oldest editions dating to 1819.

During the library's restoration between 2007 and 2010, all of the 70,000 volumes in the library were tagged with electronic chips to prevent theft.

Manuscripts

The Abyss of Hell, coloured drawing on parchment by Sandro Botticelli (1480s)

Wandalbert von Prüm, July, Martyrologium (c860)

Main article: Category:Manuscripts of the Vatican Library

Notable manuscripts in the Library include: Illuminated manuscripts:

Manuscripts relating to Christianity

• Barberini Gospels
• Gelasian Sacramentary, one of the oldest books on Christian liturgy
• Joshua Roll
• Lorsch Gospels, an illuminated gospel book written and illustrated from 778 to 820, which is spread up between various museums. The carved ivory rear cover and the Gospels of Luke and John are kept in the Vatican Library.
• Menologion of Basil II
• Vatican Croatian Prayer Book
• Vergilius Vaticanus

Classic Greek and Latin texts

• Vergilius Romanus, Vergil's Aeneid
• Codex Vaticanus Ottobonianus Latinus 1829, an important 14th-century manuscript of Catullus' poems
• Codex Vaticanus Latinus 3868, a 9th-century facsimile of Terence's comedies
• Parts of Euclid's elements, most notable Book I, Proposition 47, one of the oldest Greek texts on the Pythagorean Theorem

Others

• Codex Borgia, a mesoamerican ritual and divinatory manuscript made of animal skins
• Codex Vat. Arabo 368, the sole manuscript of the Hadith Bayad wa Riyad, an Arabic love story
• Codex Vaticanus 3738, the Codex Ríos, an accordion folded Italian translation of a Spanish colonial-era manuscript, with copies of the Aztec paintings from the original Codex Telleriano-Remensis, believed to be written by the Dominican friar Ríos in 1566.
• De arte venandi cum avibus, a Latin treatise on falconry in the format of a two-column parchment codex of 111 folios written in the 1240s.

Texts:

• Codex Vaticanus Latinus 3256, four leaves of the Vergilius Augusteus
• Codex Vaticano Rossi 215, fragments of the Rossi Codex
• Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209, one of the oldest extant Bibles in Greek language
• Libri Carolini
• Vaticanus Graecus 1001, the original manuscript of the Secret History
• One fragment of Heliand and three fragments of the Old Saxon Genesis comprise the Palatinus Latinus 1447.

Digitization projects

In 2012, plans were announced to digitize, in collaboration with the Bodleian Library, a million pages of material from the Vatican Library. A grant was provided by the London-based Polonsky Foundation.

On 20 March 2014, the Holy See announced that NTT Data Corporation and the Library concluded an agreement to digitize approximately 3,000 of the Library's manuscripts within four years. NTT is donating the equipment and technicians, in an estimated to be worth 18 million Euros. It noted that there is the possibility of subsequently digitizing another 79,000 of the Library's holdings. These will be high-definition images available on the Library's Internet site. Storage for the holdings will be on a three petabyte server provided by EMC. It is expected that the initial phase will take 4 years.

The scanning of documents is impacted by the material used to product the texts. Books using gold and silver in the illuminations require special scanning equipment. Digital copies are being stored in the CIFS file format.

Gallery of holdings

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  Gospel of Matthew in Persian, the first Persian manuscript to enter the Vatican Library

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  Manuscript page with the five-voice "Kyrie" of the Missa Virgo Parens Christi by Jacques Barbireau

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  A Mappa mundi, also known as "Tavola di Velletri", consisting of two copper tablets (1430)

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  Month of May from in the Chronography of 354 by the 4th century kalligrapher Filocalus

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  Anton Raphael Mengs, The Triumph of History over Time (Allegory of the Museum Clementinum), ceiling fresco in the Camera dei Papiri, Vatican Library

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  Illumination from the legend of Sain Emerich of Hungary's, c. 1335

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  Battle between David and Goliath, Book of Psalms, c. 1059

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  The ivory panels from the back cover of Codex Aureus of Lorsch

Related libraries

Vatican Secret Library

Main article: Vatican Secret Archives

The Vatican Secret Archives, located in Vatican City, is the central archive for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See, as well as the state papers, correspondence, papal account books, and many other documents which the church has accumulated over the centuries. In the 17th century, under the orders of Pope Paul V, the Secret Archives were separated from the Vatican Library, where scholars had some very limited access to them, and remained absolutely closed to outsiders until 1881, when Pope Leo XIII opened them to researchers, more than a thousand of whom now examine its documents each year.

Vatican Film Library

Main article: Vatican Film Library

The Vatican Film Library in St. Louis, Missouri is the only collection, outside the Vatican itself, of microfilms of more than 37,000 works from the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the Vatican Library in Europe. It is located in the Pius XII Library on the campus of Saint Louis University. The Library was created by Lowrie J. Daly (1914–2000), with funding from the Knights of Columbus. The goal was to make Vatican and other documents more available to researchers in North America.

Microfilming of Vatican manuscripts began in 1951, and according to the Library's website, was the largest microfilming project that had been undertaken up to that date. The Library opened in 1953, and moved to the St. Louis University campus, in the Pius XII Memorial Library, in 1959. The first librarian was Charles J. Ermatinger, who served until 2000. As of 2007, the Library has microfilmed versions of over 37,000 manuscripts, with material in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew and Ethiopic, as well as several more common Western European languages. There are reproductions of many works from the Biblioteca Palatina and Biblioteca Cicognara at the Vatican, as well as Papal letter registers from the Archivio Segreto Vaticano (Vatican Secret Archives) from the 9th to 16th centuries, in the series Registra Vaticana and Registra Supplicationium.

Staff

Originally the director of the library was appointed a Cardinal, and given the title Cardinal Librarian. Individual library staff were called "Custodians". After the reopening of the library in 1883, Pope Leo XIII declared that the Cardinal Librarian be regarded as a Prefect.

The Cardinal Librarian and Archivist of the Holy Roman Church is assisted by two prelates, who are the Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library (the everyday manager of the Library), and the Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives (who handles the daily affairs of the Archives). They are each assisted by a Vice-Prefect.

The office of Librarian of Vatican Library has been held at the same time as that of Archivist of Vatican Secret Archives since 1957.

The current Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library is Monsignor Cesare Pasini (who is also the Director of the Vatican School of Library Science). The Vice Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library is Doctor Ambrogio M. Piazzoni. The Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives is a Barnabite Bishop by the name of Sergio Pagano. The Vice Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives is Father Marcel Chappin, S.J. The Archives also is responsible for the Vatican School of Paleography.

The library currently has 80 staff who work in five departments: manuscripts and archival collections, printed books/drawings, acquisitions/cataloguing, coin collections/museums and restoration/photography.

List of librarians

(P) Indicates time spent as Pro-Librarian. This is the role of acting librarian, often a librarian who is not a Cardinal.

Name	Lifetime	Title	Duration as Librarian
Marcello Cervini	1501–1555	Bibliothecarius I	24 May 1550–9 April 1555
Roberto de' Nobili	1541–1559	Bibliothecarius II	1555–18 January 1559
Alfonso Carafa	1540–1565	Bibliothecarius III	1559–29 August 1565
Marcantonio da Mula	1506–1572	Bibliothecarius IV	1565–17 March 1572
Guglielmo Sirleto	1514–1585	Bibliothecarius V	18 March 1572–16 October 1585
Antonio Carafa	1538–1591	Bibliothecarius VI	16 October 1585–13 January 1591
Marco Antonio Colonna	1523 ca.–1597	Bibliothecarius VII	1591–13 March 1597
Cesare Baronio	1538–1607	Bibliothecarius VIII	May 1597–30 June 1607
Ludovico de Torres	1552–1609	Bibliothecarius IX	4 July 1607–8 July 1609
Scipione Borghese Caffarelli	1576–1633	Bibliothecarius X	11 June 1609–17 February 1618
Scipione Cobelluzzi	1564–1626	Bibliothecarius XI	17 February 1618–29 June 1626
Francesco Barberini	1597–1679	Bibliothecarius XII	1 July 1626–13 December 1633
Antonio Barberini	1569–1646	Bibliothecarius XIII	13 December 1633–11 September 1646
Orazio Giustiniani	1580–1649	Bibliothecarius XIV	25 September 1646–25 July 1649
Luigi Capponi	1583–1659	Bibliothecarius XV	4 August 1649–6 April 1659
Flavio Chigi	1631–1693	Bibliothecarius XVI	21 June 1659–19 September 1681
Lorenzo Brancati	1612–1693	Bibliothecarius XVII	19 September 1681–30 November 1693
Girolamo Casanate	1620–1700	Bibliothecarius XVIII	2 December 1693–3 March 1700
Enrico Noris	1631–1704	Bibliothecarius XIX	26 March 1700–23 February 1704
Benedetto Pamphili	1653–1730	Bibliothecarius XX	26 February 1704–22 March 1730
Angelo Maria Querini	1680–1755	Bibliothecarius XXI	4 September 1730–6 January 1755
Domenico Passionei	1682–1761	Bibliothecarius XXII	10 July 1741–12 January 1755(P) 12 January 1755–5 July 1761
Alessandro Albani	1692–1779	Bibliothecarius XXIII	12 August 1761–11 December 1779
Francesco Saverio de Zelada	1717–1801	Bibliothecarius XXIV	15 December 1779–29 December 1801
Luigi Valenti Gonzaga	1725–1808	Bibliothecarius XXV	12 January 1802–29 December 1808
Giulio Maria della Somaglia	1744–1830	Bibliothecarius XXVI	26 January 1827–2 April 1830
Giuseppe Albani	1750–1834	Bibliothecarius XXVII	23 April 1830–3 December 1834
Luigi Lambruschini	1776–1854	Bibliothecarius XXVIII	11 December 1834–27 June 1853
Angelo Mai	1782–1854	Bibliothecarius XXIX	27 June 1853–9 September 1854
Antonio Tosti	1776–1866	Bibliothecarius XXX	13 January 1860–20 March 1866
Jean-Baptiste Pitra	1812–1889	Bibliothecarius XXXI	19 January 1869–9 February 1889
it	1829–1889	Bibliothecarius XXXII	20 February 1889–23 September 1889
Alfonso Capecelatro	1824–1912	Bibliothecarius XXXIII	29 August 1890–14 November 1912
Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro	1843–1913	Bibliothecarius XXXIV	26 November 1912–16 December 1913
Francesco di Paola Cassetta	1841–1919	Bibliothecarius XXXV	3 January 1914–23 March 1919
Aidan [Francis Neil] Gasquet	1845–1929	Bibliothecarius XXXVI	9 May 1919–5 April 1929
Franz Ehrle	1845–1934	Bibliothecarius XXXVII	17 April 1929–31 March 1934
Giovanni Mercati	1866–1957	Bibliothecarius XXXVIII	18 June 1936–23 August 1957
Eugène Tisserant	1884–1972	Bibliothecarius XXXIX	14 September 1957–27 March 1971
Antonio Samoré	1905–1983	Bibliothecarius XL	25 January 1974–3 February 1983
Alfons Maria Stickler	1910–2007	Bibliothecarius XLI	7 September 1983–27 May 1985(P) 27 May 1985–1 July 1988
Antonio María Javierre Ortas	1921–2007	Bibliothecarius XLII	1 July 1988–24 January 1992
Luigi Poggi	1917-2010	Bibliothecarius XLIII	9 April 1992–29 November 1994(P) 29 November 1994–25 November 1997
Jorge María Mejía	1923-2014	Bibliothecarius XLIV	7 March 1998–24 November 2003
Jean-Louis Tauran	1943-	Bibliothecarius XLV	24 November 2003–25 June 2007
Raffaele Farina	1933-	Bibliothecarius XLVI	25 June 2007–9 June 2012
Jean-Louis Bruguès	1943-	Bibliothecarius XLVII	26 June 2012–

See also

• Index of Vatican City-related articles
• The Vatican Splendors

References

Works cited

• Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church -

Further reading

• Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture, an online exhibition from the Library of Congress.
• Vatican to digitize Apostolic Library of 1.6 million volumes for general perusal, PCWorld.com, October 29, 2002. A joint effort between the Vatican and Hewlett-Packard.

External links

• Official website (Italian)
• Vatican Library old home page, with online catalog search
• History of the Vatican Library, from the Library's site
• Treasures of the Vatican Library Exposed via The European Library
• Toward On-line, worldwide access to Vatican Library materials (1996). A collaborative effort (pioneered by Fr. Leonard Boyle OP Prefect of the Vatican Library) between the Vatican Library and IBM, the primary goal of which is to "provide access via the Internet to some of the Library's most valuable manuscripts, printed books, and other sources to a scholarly community around the world."
• Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library. Saint Louis University library that focuses on the collection of the Vatican Library.
• The Secret History of Art by Noah Charney on the Vatican Library and Procopius. An article by art historian Noah Charney about the Vatican Library and its famous manuscript, Historia Arcana by Procopius.
• The Vatican: spirit and art of Christian Rome, a book from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on the library (p. 280-290)