Biblioteca Angelica

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Biblioteca Angelica
S Eustachio - piazza s Agostino Arcadia e Angelica 1150281.jpg
The entrance of Angelica Library
Biblioteca Angelica
41°54′03″N12°28′29″E / 41.9008°N 12.4746°E / 41.9008; 12.4746
LocationP.zza S. Agostino, 8, Rome, Italy
Type Public library
Established1604;420 years ago (1604)
Collection
Size>200.000 printed items and manuscripts
Other information
DirectorUmberto D'Angelo
Website bibliotecaangelica.cultura.gov.it

The Biblioteca Angelica (English: Angelica Library) is a public library located in Rome, Italy. In front of the Piazza Sant'Agostino square, adjacent to the church of Sant'Agostino, not far from Piazza Navona. Having been open to the public since 1609, it is considered the oldest public library in Europe along with the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. [1]

Contents

The library holds about over 130,000 volumes of manuscripts [2] (among them Codex Angelicus) and 1,100 incunabula, which formerly belonged to the Augustinians. These works are important for our knowledge of the history of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.

History

The library was established in 1604(420 years ago) by the Augustinian bishop and papal sacristan Angelo Rocca (1546–1620), and belonged to the Augustinian monastery. [3] Its founder, in whose honor the library is still named the Biblioteca Angelica, died in 1620. [4] His library was one of the most complete private collections in Rome, possessing over 130,000 volumes.

At the end of 1500 Rocca planned to donate his collection to the Augustinian Order and to place it at the disposal of the public as evidenced by a Pontifical Letter of 1595, wherein Pope Clement VIII accorded him the right to donate the library. This authorization was renewed by Paul V, and only in 1614 the instrument of conveyance was executed. The instrument, under which the transfer of the ownership title to the library over to the Convent of Sant'Agostino in Rome was effected, was associated with several clauses: 1) the library shall not be considered as coenobitic; and hence the Augustinian Fathers shall be allowed to go in as scholars and not as owners; 2) the library shall not be moved from the premises purposely built for it.

The question of finding suitable premises for housing the library was in all likelihood the cause for the delay in carrying Rocca's plan into effect. He himself took on the assignment of purchasing little buildings standing in close proximity of the Church of Sant'Agostino, that were altered to meet requirements. He, further, endowed the library with independent incomes, with an initial capital composed of seven mountain places yielding 24 scudi per annum.

In 1614, the library was joined to the convent library of Sant'Agostino, which numbered about 20,000 books. By fra Angelo's testament - he was a bishop and here dispensed from the vow of poverty - his library should be open to the public. Thus the Angelica became one the first public libraries in Italy. In his seminal work Advis pour dresser une bibliothèque (1644) the French scholar and librarian Gabriel Naudé asserted that only three libraries in all Europe granted in his times regular access to every scholar, namely the Bodleian, the Ambrosiana and the Angelica. [5]

The Ancient Hall of the Biblioteca Angelica. The architecture of the hall is attributed to Luigi Vanvitelli Biblioteca Angelica Ambiente "Vaso" del Vanvitelli.jpg
The Ancient Hall of the Biblioteca Angelica. The architecture of the hall is attributed to Luigi Vanvitelli

The two great collections, that is, those of the monastery of Sant'Agostino and of Rocca, augmented by later gifts of brethren and benefactors, constantly increased. In 1661 the German humanist Lucas Holstenius bequeathed to the Biblioteca Angelica his library of over 3,000 books. In 1704, the great library of the Augustinian Cardinal Henry Noris was turned over to the Angelica. The library of Cardinal Domenico Silvio Passionei was purchased for the Augustinians in 1762 and at the same time the present spacious library was rebuilt, and the books were completely catalogued by three hard-working friars. Even today the 54 volumes in folio which compose the old catalogue, were the work of Cosmas Schmalfus  [ de ] and Richard Tecker  [ de ], and are still in daily use. Unfortunately the catalogue of the manuscripts, made by Daniele Marcolini, has been lost.

The Angelica underwent several renovations in the seventeenth century (by Borromini) and eighteenth century (by Luigi Vanvitelli and Carlo Murena). [6] Vanvitelli, designed the monumental hall on the first floor, completed in 1765.

The library was taken from the order in 1873, when the Italian government suppressed the religious houses in Rome. [6] Since 1975, it has been under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture.

Collection

Illumination from De balneis Puteolanis -late 13th century manuscript, MS 1474, Biblioteca Angelica in Rome Petrus de Ebulo - Balneum Sudatorium.jpg
Illumination from De balneis Puteolanis -late 13th century manuscript, MS 1474, Biblioteca Angelica in Rome

The library specialises in ecclesiastical studies and in historical literary studies. At present it has a collection of 200,000 volumes, and is one of the best supplied Italian libraries in-so-far as manuscripts and incunabula are concerned.

The manuscripts are divided in accordance with their set of origin. The following are particularly valuable: the four Evangeli, a parchment manuscript of the IXth Century; a Saint Gregory of the XIth Century; several codes in the Greek language including an Iliad of the XIIth Century; a Commedia by Dante Alighieri with coloured initials for every chapter and illustrations for every book; another Commedia of the XIVth Century with chapters by Jacopo Alighieri and Bosone da Gubbio, with beautiful miniatures for every chapter of Inferno ; eleven Arabic codes; the De Balneis Puteolanis of the XIIIth Century with Sicilian school miniatures; a book on Danish silver coins of the XIVth Century with exquisite Flemish miniatures.

The library owns more than 1,100 incunabula, including an edition of the first book printed in Italy: the De Oratore by Cicero, produced in 1465 at Subiaco by Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweynheim, German proto-printers. [7] Another book owned by the Angelica came out of that same press: the De civitate Dei by St. Augustine of 1467. Other particularly valuable incunabula owned by the Angelica are the following: the Divinarum istitutionum by Lactantius of 1468; the Epistolae by St. Jerome of 1468; the Commentaria in Evangelistas of 1470; the Storia naturale [ Natural History] by Pliny of 1470; a Commedia by Dante Alighieri printed in Florence in 1481 with engravings made to Botticelli's design. Included in the works of the sixteenth Century, an edition of Orlando Furioso printed at Ferrara in 1521 is quite noteworthy.

Also numerous are the papers and documents of great historical interest owned by the library: many manuscripts on the Jesuits, on the French domination, which include a diary on the voyage undertaken in France by Pope Pius VII for the coronation of Napoleon, and a very accurate report on the relationships intervening between the Pope and the French from 1808 to the restoration in 1814. Many manuscripts are evidence on the history of the Papal States right up to the unification of Italy: from the conclaves to the insurrections, to the festivities, to international relationships.

The Angelica further owns 460 unbound geographical maps and around 10,000 maps bound in volumes, numerous atlases and two rare pairs of globes by Willem Jansz Blaeu.

Since 1941 the Angelica has also become the seat of the Pontifical Academy of Arcadia which gave it on deposit the historical archives and the library with its wealth of 10,000 volumes comprising hundreds of books, pamphlets, academic writings, periodicals, unique issues, authographs that are a faithful evidence of the background and the development of the life of the academy whose first seeds date back to the meetings held in Rome in the palace of Queen Christina of Sweden.

Some manuscripts

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References

  1. ↑ "Le biblioteche più belle e antiche del mondo - OndaDurso". Archived from the original on 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  2. ↑ Marinelli, Anne V. (1955). "The State Public Libraries of Italy". The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy. 25 (2): 163–170. doi:10.1086/618170. ISSN   0024-2519. JSTOR   4304402. S2CID   148074856.
  3. ↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Angelo Rocca"  . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  4. ↑ Wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Angelo Rocca". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  5. ↑ Israel, Jonathan (2001). Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650-1750. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 121. ISBN   978-0198206088.
  6. 1 2 Serrai, Alfredo (2006). Breve storia delle biblioteche in Italia. Milan: Sylvestre Bonnard. p. 56. ISBN   88-89609-24-9.
  7. ↑ Carosi, Gabriele Paolo (1982). Da Magonza a Subiaco: l'introduzione della stampa in Italia. Busto Arsizio: Bramante. p. 35.

Further reading

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