Vatican Library

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Vatican Apostolic Library
Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana
Emblem of the Papacy SE.svg
Melozzo da Forli 001.jpg
Pope Sixtus IV Appoints Bartolomeo Platina Prefect of the Vatican Library , fresco by Melozzo da Forlì, 1477, now in the Vatican Museums
Vatican Library
41°54′17″N12°27′16″E / 41.90472°N 12.45444°E / 41.90472; 12.45444
LocationFlag of Vatican City (2023-present).svg  Vatican City
Type Research library
Established1475(549 years ago) (1475)
Collection
Size
  • 75,000 codices
  • 1.1 million printed books
Other information
Director Angelo Vincenzo Zani
Website www.vaticanlibrary.va
Location on a map of Vatican City

The Vatican Apostolic Library (Latin : Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Italian : Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, [1] is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was 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 has 75,000 codices from throughout history, as well as 1.1 million printed books, which include some 8,500 incunabula. [2]

Contents

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.

Pope Nicholas V (1447–1455) envisioned a new Rome, with extensive public works to lure pilgrims and scholars to the city to begin its transformation. Nicolas wanted to create a "public library" for Rome that was meant to be seen as an institution for humanist scholarship. His death prevented him from carrying out his plan, but his successor Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484) established what is now known as the Vatican Library.

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 Apostolic Archive was separated from the library at the beginning of the 17th century; it contains 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. [3]

Pre-Lateran

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

At the 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. [4]

At Avignon

The Avignon period was during the Avignon Papacy, when seven successive popes resided in Avignon, France. This period saw 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.

Prior to establishment at the Vatican

The Pre-Vatican period ranged from about 1370 to 1447. The library was scattered during this time, with parts in Rome, Avignon, and elsewhere. Pope Eugenius IV possessed 340 books by the time of his death. [5]

At the 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. [6] [7] 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. [7] The knowledgeable pope already encouraged the inclusion of pagan classics. [1] 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. [8]

Nicholas died in 1455. In 1475 his successor Pope Sixtus IV founded the Palatine Library. [7] During his papacy, acquisitions were made in "theology, philosophy and artistic literature". [4] The number of manuscripts is variously counted as 3,500 in 1475 [4] or 2,527 in 1481, when librarians Bartolomeo Platina and Pietro Demetrio Guazzelli produced a signed listing. [9] [10] [11] At the time it was the largest collection of books in the Western world. [8]

Pope Julius II commissioned the expansion of the building. [7] Around 1587, Pope Sixtus V commissioned the architect Domenico Fontana to construct a new building for the library, which is still used today. After this, it became known as the Vatican Library. [7]

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 was to formally reopen the library to scholars in 1883. [6] [7]

In 1756, the priest Antonio Piaggio, curator of ancient manuscripts at the Library used a machine he had invented [12] to unroll the first Herculaneum papyri, an operation which took him months. [13]

In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte arrested Pope Pius VII and had the contents of the library seized and removed to Paris. They were returned in 1817, three years after Napoleon's defeat and abdication. [7]

The library's first major revitalization project took place in the period between the two World Wars at the instigation of Pope Pius XI, himself a scholar and former librarian, with the cooperation of librarians from around the world. Until this point in time, while it had drawn on the expertise of numerous experts, the Vatican Library was dangerously lacking in organization and its junior librarians were undertrained. [14] Foreign researchers, particularly Americans, noticed how inadequate the facilities were for such an important collection. Several American organizations, including the American Library Association and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, offered to assist in implementing a modern cataloguing system. [15] Along with this, librarians from the Vatican Library were invited to visit several libraries in the United States to receive training on the functioning of a modern library. They visited the Library of Congress, and libraries in Princeton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Chicago, Champaign, Toronto, and Ann Arbor. Once back in Rome, a reorganization plan was implemented. The main goals were to create a summary index by author of each manuscript, and likewise a catalogue for the incunabula. Once the project was completed, the Vatican Library was one of the most modern in all of Europe. This joint effort highlighted the importance of international relationships in the field of librarianship and led to the founding in 1929 of the International Federation of Library Associations, still at work. [14]

In 1992 the library had almost 2 million catalogued items. [6]

Among a number of thefts from the Library committed in modern times, in 1995 art history teacher Anthony Melnikas from Ohio State University stole three leaves from a medieval manuscript once owned by Francesco Petrarch. [16] [17] 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 U.S. Customs agents. Melnikas was trying to sell the pages to an art dealer, who then alerted the library director. [17]

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 Statues of Saint Hippolytus.jpg
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. [18] When Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) 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. [1] At the bottom of a grand staircase a large statue of Hippolytus decorates the La Galea entrance hall. [19]

In the first semi-basement there is a papyrus room and a storage area for manuscripts. [19] The first floor houses the restoration laboratory, and the photographic archives are on the second floor. [19]

The library has 42 kilometres (26 mi) of shelving. [20]

The library closed for renovations on 17 July 2007 [21] and reopened on 20 September 2010. [22] The three-year, 9 million euro renovation involved the complete shut down of the library to install climate controlled rooms. [23]

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. [lower-alpha 1] [25]

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. [7] 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. [7] The library catalogue was further updated by Rev. Leonard E. Boyle when it was computerized in the early 1990s. [7]

Reading and lending

Bookcase in the Vatican Library Milkau Biblioteca Vaticana - Bucherschrank 279-2.jpg
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. [7] 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. [26] In the 1760s, a bill issued by Clement XIII heavily restricted access to the library's holdings. [1]

The Vatican Library can be accessed by 200 scholars at a time, [27] and it sees 4,000 to 5,000 scholars a year, mostly academics doing post-graduate research. [23]

Collections

A miniature from the Syriac Gospel Lectionary (Vat. Syr. 559), created c. 1220 near Mosul and exhibiting a strong Islamic influence Fortymartyrs.jpg
A miniature from the Syriac Gospel Lectionary (Vat. Syr. 559), created c. 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 from the beginning in secular books. Its collection of Greek and Latin classics was at the center of the revival of classical culture during the Renaissance. [8] The oldest documents in the library date back to the first century. [20]

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. [28]

The collection also includes 330,000 Greek, Roman, and papal coins and medals. [6]

Every year about 6,000 new books are acquired. [6]

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

In 1623, in thanks for the adroit political maneuvers of Pope Gregory XV that had sustained him in his contests with Protestant candidates for the post of Elector, the hereditary Palatine Library of Heidelberg, containing about 3,500 manuscripts was given to the Holy See by Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria. He had just acquired it as loot in the Thirty Years' War. 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. A gift of 852 others was made in 1816 by Pope Pius VII to the University of Heidelberg, including the Codex Manesse. Aside from these cases, 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 loot from Habsburg Prague and German cities during the Thirty Years' War) was purchased on her death in 1689 by Pope Alexander VIII. It represented, for all practical purposes, the entire royal library of Sweden at the time. Had it 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 regarded as the founder of the library's Oriental section. [7]

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

In 1959, the Vatican Film Library was established. [29] This is not to be confused with the Knights of Columbus 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. [30]

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. [23]

Manuscripts

The Abyss of Hell, coloured drawing on parchment by Sandro Botticelli (1480s) Sandro Botticelli - The Abyss of Hell - WGA02853.jpg
The Abyss of Hell, coloured drawing on parchment by Sandro Botticelli (1480s)
Wandalbert von Prum, July, Martyrologium (c860) Wandalbert von Prum, July, Martyrologium.jpg
Wandalbert von Prüm, July, Martyrologium (c860)

Notable manuscripts in the library include:

Manuscripts relating to Christianity

Classic Greek and Latin texts

Medieval Greek and Latin texts

Others

Qurans

The library contains over 100 Quran manuscripts from various collections, cataloged by the Italian Jewish linguist Giorgio Levi Della Vida: Vaticani arabi 73; Borgiani arabi 25; Barberiniani orientali 11; Rossiani 2. The largest manuscript in the library, Vat. Ar. 1484, measures 540x420mm. The smallest, Vat. Ar. 924, is a circle of 45mm diameter preserved in an octagonal case. [40]

Digitization projects

In 2012, plans were announced to digitize, in collaboration with the Bodleian Library, a million pages of material from the Vatican Library.

On 20 March 2014, the Holy See announced that NTT Data Corporation and the library had concluded an agreement to digitize approximately 3,000 of the library's manuscripts within four years. [41] NTT is donating the equipment and technicians, estimated to be worth 18 million Euros. [42] 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. [43] It is expected that the initial phase will take four years. [44]

DigiVatLib is the name of the Vatican Library's digital library service. It provides free access to the Vatican Library's digitized collections of manuscripts and incunabula. [45]

The scanning of documents is impacted by the material used to produce the texts. Books using gold and silver in the illuminations require special scanning equipment. [27] Digital copies are being served using the CIFS protocol, from network-attached storage hardware by Dell EMC. [20]

Vatican Apostolic Archive

The Vatican Apostolic Archive, 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, [46] and many other documents which the church has accumulated over the centuries. In the 17th century, under the orders of Pope Paul V, the 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. [47]

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. [48] The library was created by Lowrie J. Daly (1914–2000), with funding from the Knights of Columbus. [49] The goal was to make Vatican and other documents more available to researchers in North America. [50]

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. [51] 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. [52]

Staff

The nominal head of the library has often over the centuries been made a cardinal and hence given the title Cardinal Librarian. [7] The effective directors, often distinguished scholars, were in an earlier period called "Custodians. [7] After the reopening of the library in 1883, Pope Leo XIII changed the title to Prefect. [7] [53] [54]

The library currently has some 80 staff who work in five departments: manuscripts and archival collections, printed books/drawings, acquisitions/cataloguing, coin collections/museums and restoration/photography. [6]

List of librarians

(P) Indicates time spent as pro-librarian, that is acting librarian, often a librarian who is not a cardinal. [55]

NameLifetimeTitleDuration as librarian [56] [57]
Marcello Cervini 1501–1555Bibliothecarius I24 May 1550–9 April 1555
Roberto de' Nobili 1541–1559Bibliothecarius II1555–18 January 1559
Alfonso Carafa 1540–1565Bibliothecarius III1559–29 August 1565
Marcantonio da Mula 1506–1572Bibliothecarius IV1565–17 March 1572 [58]
Guglielmo Sirleto 1514–1585Bibliothecarius V18 March 1572–16 October 1585
Antonio Carafa 1538–1591Bibliothecarius VI16 October 1585–13 January 1591
Marco Antonio Colonna 1523 ca.–1597Bibliothecarius VII1591–13 March 1597
Cesare Baronio 1538–1607Bibliothecarius VIIIMay 1597–30 June 1607 [59]
Ludovico de Torres 1552–1609Bibliothecarius IX4 July 1607–8 July 1609
Scipione Borghese Caffarelli 1576–1633Bibliothecarius X11 June 1609–17 February 1618 [60]
Scipione Cobelluzzi 1564–1626Bibliothecarius XI17 February 1618–29 June 1626
Francesco Barberini 1597–1679Bibliothecarius XII1 July 1626–13 December 1633
Antonio Barberini 1569–1646Bibliothecarius XIII13 December 1633–11 September 1646
Orazio Giustiniani 1580–1649Bibliothecarius XIV25 September 1646–25 July 1649
Luigi Capponi 1583–1659Bibliothecarius XV4 August 1649–6 April 1659
Flavio Chigi 1631–1693Bibliothecarius XVI21 June 1659–19 September 1681 [61]
Lorenzo Brancati 1612–1693Bibliothecarius XVII19 September 1681–30 November 1693
Girolamo Casanate 1620–1700Bibliothecarius XVIII2 December 1693–3 March 1700
Enrico Noris 1631–1704Bibliothecarius XIX26 March 1700–23 February 1704
Benedetto Pamphili 1653–1730Bibliothecarius XX26 February 1704–22 March 1730
Angelo Maria Querini 1680–1755Bibliothecarius XXI4 September 1730–6 January 1755
Domenico Passionei 1682–1761Bibliothecarius XXII10 July 1741–12 January 1755(P)
12 January 1755–5 July 1761
Alessandro Albani 1692–1779Bibliothecarius XXIII12 August 1761–11 December 1779
Francesco Saverio de Zelada 1717–1801Bibliothecarius XXIV15 December 1779–29 December 1801
Luigi Valenti Gonzaga 1725–1808Bibliothecarius XXV12 January 1802–29 December 1808
Giulio Maria della Somaglia 1744–1830Bibliothecarius XXVI26 January 1827–2 April 1830
Giuseppe Albani 1750–1834Bibliothecarius XXVII23 April 1830–3 December 1834
Luigi Lambruschini 1776–1854Bibliothecarius XXVIII11 December 1834–27 June 1853
Angelo Mai 1782–1854Bibliothecarius XXIX27 June 1853–9 September 1854
Antonio Tosti 1776–1866Bibliothecarius XXX13 January 1860–20 March 1866
Jean Baptiste François Pitra 1812–1889Bibliothecarius XXXI19 January 1869–9 February 1889 [62]
Placido Maria Schiaffino 1829–1889Bibliothecarius XXXII20 February 1889–23 September 1889
Alfonso Capecelatro 1824–1912Bibliothecarius XXXIII29 August 1890–14 November 1912 [63]
Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro 1843–1913Bibliothecarius XXXIV26 November 1912–16 December 1913
Francesco di Paola Cassetta 1841–1919Bibliothecarius XXXV3 January 1914–23 March 1919
Aidan [Francis Neil] Gasquet 1845–1929Bibliothecarius XXXVI9 May 1919–5 April 1929
Franz Ehrle 1845–1934Bibliothecarius XXXVII17 April 1929–31 March 1934
Giovanni Mercati 1866–1957Bibliothecarius XXXVIII18 June 1936–23 August 1957
Eugène Tisserant 1884–1972Bibliothecarius XXXIX14 September 1957–27 March 1971
Antonio Samoré 1905–1983Bibliothecarius XL25 January 1974–3 February 1983
Alfons Maria Stickler 1910–2007Bibliothecarius XLI7 September 1983–27 May 1985(P)
27 May 1985–1 July 1988
Antonio María Javierre Ortas 1921–2007Bibliothecarius XLII1 July 1988–24 January 1992
Luigi Poggi 1917–2010 [64] Bibliothecarius XLIII9 April 1992–29 November 1994(P)
29 November 1994–25 November 1997
Jorge María Mejía 1923–2014Bibliothecarius XLIV7 March 1998–24 November 2003
Jean-Louis Tauran 1943–2018Bibliothecarius XLV24 November 2003–25 June 2007
Raffaele Farina 1933–Bibliothecarius XLVI25 June 2007–9 June 2012
Jean-Louis Bruguès 1943–Bibliothecarius XLVII26 June 2012–1 September 2018
José Tolentino de Mendonça 1965–Bibliothecarius XLVIII1 September 2018–26 September 2022
Angelo Vincenzo Zani 1950–Bibliothecarius XLIX26 September 2022–

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ This sculpture is described in the following words: "S. Tommaso seduto, nella sinistra tiene il libro della Summa theologica, mentre stende la destra in atto di proteggere la scienza cristiana. Quindi non siede sulla cattedra di dottore, ma sul trono di sovrano protettore; stende il braccio a rassicurare, non a dimostrare. Ha in testa il dottorale berretto, e conservando il suo tipo tradizionale, rivela nel volto e nell'atteggiamento l'uomo profondamente dotto. L'autore non ha avuto da ispirarsi in altr'opera che esistesse sul soggetto, quindi ha dovuto, può dirsi, creare questo tipo, ed è riuscito originale e felice nella sua creazione." [24]

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The Vatican Terence, or Codex Vaticanus Latinus 3868, is a 9th-century illuminated manuscript of the Latin comedies of Publius Terentius Afer, housed in the Vatican Library. According to art-historical analysis the manuscript was copied from a model of the 3rd century. The manuscript is referred to in the apparatus criticus of modern editions as "C".

<i>Menologion of Basil II</i> Byzantine illuminated manuscript compiled c. 1000 AD

The Menologion, Menologium, or Menology of Basil II is an illuminated manuscript designed as a church calendar or Eastern Orthodox Church service book (menologion) that was compiled c. 1000 AD for the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. It contains a synaxarion, a short collection of saints' lives, compiled at Constantinople for liturgical use and around 430 miniature paintings by eight different artists. It was unusual for a menologion from that era to be so richly painted. It currently resides in the Vatican Library . A full facsimile was produced in 1907.

<i>Alphabetum Romanum</i> 1463 Latin book by Felice Feliciano

The Alphabetum Romanum, by Felice Feliciano, published in 1463, is a text that covers how to create Roman square capital letters geometrically based on the subdivision of a square.

References

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Works cited

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