Vatican Library - Revision history

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External links

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	[[Category:National libraries]]		[[Category:National libraries]]
	[[Category:Vatican Library\|*]]		[[Category:Vatican Library\|*]]

			{{Donate}}

Nick: /* Current holdings */

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Current holdings

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

	The Library closed on 17 July 2007, until September 2010.~~sup>[]</sup>~~		The Library closed on 17 July 2007, until September 2010.

	A School of [[library science\|Library Science]] is associated with the Vatican Library.		A School of [[library science\|Library Science]] is associated with the Vatican Library.

	In 1959, a Film Library was established.~~<sup>[]</sup>~~ This is not to be confused with the [[Vatican Film Library]], which was established in 1953 at [[Saint Louis University]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].		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]].

	==Manuscripts==		==Manuscripts==

Nick: Protected "Vatican Library" [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed]

2011-04-01T16:26:27Z

Protected "Vatican Library" [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed]

← Older revision	Revision as of 16:26, 1 April 2011
(No difference)

Nick at 05:39, 12 December 2010

2010-12-12T05:39:45Z

Nick: New page: [[Pope Sixtus IV appoints Bartolomeo Platina prefect of the Vatican Library, fresco by Melozzo da Forlì, c. 1477 ([[Vatican Museums...

2009-12-11T21:58:58Z

New page: thumb|210px|[[Pope Sixtus IV appoints Bartolomeo Platina prefect of the Vatican Library, fresco by Melozzo da Forlì, c. 1477 ([[Vatican Museums...

New page

[[image:Melozzo da Forlì 001.jpg|thumb|210px|[[Pope Sixtus IV]] appoints [[Bartolomeo Platina]] prefect of the Vatican Library, fresco by [[Melozzo da Forlì]], c. 1477 ([[Vatican Museums]])]]
The '''Vatican Library''' ({{lang-la|Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana}}) is the [[library]] of the [[Holy See]], currently located in [[Vatican City]]. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 [[codex|codices]] from throughout history.<ref name=vfl>Vatican Film Library informational pamphlet</ref> From July 2007, the library has been temporarily closed to the public for rebuilding, which is expected to be completed by September 2010.<

==Historical periods==
Scholars have traditionally divided the history of the library into five periods.<ref>See "Vatican Library", ''[[Dictionary of the Middle Ages]]''.</ref>

*'''Pre-Lateran'''. The initial days of the library, dating from the earliest days of the church, before it moved to the [[Lateran Palace]]; only a negligible number of volumes survive from this period, though some are very significant.
*'''Lateran'''. Lasted until the end of the 13th century and the reign of Pope [[Boniface VIII]].
*'''Avignon'''. This period saw a great growth in book collection and record keeping by the popes who were in residence in southern France in [[Avignon]] between the death of Boniface and the 1370s when the Papacy returned to Rome.
*'''Pre-Vatican'''. From about 1370 to 1446, the library was scattered, with parts in Rome, Avignon and elsewhere.
*'''Vatican'''. Starting around 1448, the library moved to the Vatican and a continuous history begins to the present time.

==Establishment==
[[Pope Nicholas V]] established the library in the Vatican in 1448 by combining some 350 Greek, Latin and Hebrew [[codex|codices]] inherited from his predecessors with his own collection and extensive acquisitions, among them manuscripts from the imperial [[Library of Constantinople]]. The ''Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana'' was established in 1475.<ref name=vfl/>

When its first librarian, [[Bartolomeo Platina]], produced a listing in 1481, the library held over 3,500 items, making it by far the largest in the Western world. Around 1587, [[Pope Sixtus V]] commissioned the architect [[Domenico Fontana]] to construct a new building for the library; it is still in use today. Books were displayed on benches to which they were chained.

==Bequests and acquisitions==
[[Image:Sistinehall.jpg|thumb|275px|The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library.]]
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 [[Treaty of Paris (1815)|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, for all practical purposes the entire royal library of Sweden of the time, and mostly amassed by her father [[Gustavus Adolphus]] as booty from Habsburg [[Prague]] and German cities during the [[Thirty Years War]], was bought by [[Pope Alexander VIII]] on her death in 1689 (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).

==Current holdings==
Today, the library holds some 75,000 manuscripts and over 1.1 million printed books, which include some 8,500 [[Incunabulum|incunabula]]. The [[Vatican Secret Archives]] were separated from the library at the beginning of the 17th century; they contain another 150,000 items.

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.

A commonly repeated [[urban legend]] has it that the Vatican Library holds the largest collection of pornography in the world. This is false; the library owns very few pornographic materials, largely file copies of works on the ''[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]''. There are also a few mildly erotic works of art, but very little since the [[Renaissance]].

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

The Library closed on 17 July 2007, until September 2010.<ref name=bbc/>

A School of [[library science|Library Science]] is associated with the Vatican Library.

In 1959, a Film Library was established.<ref>[http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_16111959_statute-film-library_en.html]</ref> This is not to be confused with the [[Vatican Film Library]], which was established in 1953 at [[Saint Louis University]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].

==Manuscripts==
[[Image:Fortymartyrs.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A miniature from the Syriac Gospel Lectionary (Vat. Syr. 559), created ca. 1220 near [[Mosul]] and exhibiting a strong Islamic influence.]]
Notable manuscripts in the Library include:

[[Illuminated manuscript]]s:

*[[Vergilius Vaticanus]]
*[[Vergilius Romanus]]
*[[Barberini Gospels]]
*[[Joshua Roll]]
*[[De arte venandi cum avibus]]
*[[Vatican Croatian Prayer Book]]

Texts:
*[[Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209]]
*[[Libri Carolini]]

== Librarians of Vatican Library ==

* [[Bartholomaeus Platina]] (1475–1481)
* [[Caesar Baronius]]
* [[Marcellus II|Marcellus Cervini]] (1548–1555)
* [[Gulielmus Allen (cardinalis)|Gulielmus Allen]]
* [[Scipio Borghese (saeculum XVII)|Scipio Borghese]]<(1609–1618)
* [[Lucas Holstenius]] (1653– )
* [[Flavius Chigi]] (1659–1661)
* [[Henricus Noris]], [[Augustinianus|OSA]] (1700–1704)
* [[Benedictus Pamphilj]] (1704–1730)
* [[Angelus Maria Quirini]], [[Benedictini|OSB]] (1730–1740)
* [[Dominicus Silvius Passionei]] (1755–1761)
* [[Alexander Albani]] (1761–1779)
* [[Aloysius Valenti Gonzaga]] (1802–1808)
*[[Giuseppe Albani]] (23 April 1830 - 3 December 1834)
*[[Angelo Mai]] (27 June 1853 - 9 September 1854)
*[[Antonio Tosti]] (13 January 1860 - 20 March 1866)
*[[Jean-Baptiste-François Pitra]] (19 January 1869 - 12 May 1879)
*[[Alfonso Capecelatro di Castelpagano]] ( 1899 - 11 November 1912)
*[[Francis Aidan Gasquet]] (9 May 1919 - 5 April 1929)
*[[Franz Ehrle]] (17 April 1929 - 31 March 1934)
*[[Giovanni Mercati]] (1936–1957)
*[[Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant]] (14 September 1957 - 27 March 1971 )
*[[Antonio Samore]] (25 January 1974 - 3 February 1983)
*[[Alfons Maria Stickler]] (8 September 1983 - 1 July 1988)
*[[Antonio María Javierre Ortas]] (1 July 1988 - 24 January 1992)
*[[Luigi Poggi]] (9 April 1992 - 7 March 1998 )
*[[Jorge María Mejía]] (7 March 1998 - 24 November 2003)
*[[Jean-Louis Tauran]] (24 November 2003 - 25 June 2007)
*[[Raffaele Farina]] (25 June 2007 - )

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

==See also==
*[[Vatican Secret Archives]]
* [[Vatican Film Library]], which contains thousands of documents from the Vatican Library, on microfilm in St. Louis, Missouri

==References==

==External links==
{{commons-inline|Category:Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana|Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana}}
* [http://www.vaticanlibrary.va/ Vatican Library home page]
* [http://bav.vatican.va/en/v_home_bav/home_bav.shtml Vatican Library old home page], with online catalog search
* [http://libraries.theeuropeanlibrary.org/VaticanCity/treasures_en.xml Treasures of the Vatican Library] Exposed via [[The European Library]]
*[http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/vatican/ Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture], an online exhibition from the [[Library of Congress]].
* [http://www.snopes.com/risque/porn/vatican.htm On the pornography urban legend], by snopes.com
* [http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/402/mintzer.html 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."
* [http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,106485,00.asp 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]].
* [http://www.slu.edu/libraries/vfl/about.html Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library]. [[Saint Louis University]] library that focuses on the collection of the Vatican Library.

[[Category:1475 establishments]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Vatican City]]
[[Category:Holy See]]
[[Category:Research libraries]]
[[Category:National libraries]]
[[Category:Vatican Library|*]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:39, 12 December 2010
Line 1:		Line 1:
	[[image:Melozzo da Forlì 001.jpg\|thumb\|210px\|[[Pope Sixtus IV]] appoints [[Bartolomeo Platina]] prefect of the Vatican Library, fresco by [[Melozzo da Forlì]], c. 1477 ([[Vatican Museums]])]]		[[image:Melozzo da Forlì 001.jpg\|thumb\|210px\|[[Pope Sixtus IV]] appoints [[Bartolomeo Platina]] prefect of the Vatican Library, fresco by [[Melozzo da Forlì]], c. 1477 ([[Vatican Museums]])]]
	The '''Vatican Library''' (~~{{lang-la\|~~Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana}}) is the [[library]] of the [[Holy See]], currently located in [[Vatican City]]. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 [[codex\|codices]] from throughout history.<~~ref name=vfl~~>~~Vatican Film Library informational pamphlet~~</~~ref~~> From July 2007, the library has been temporarily closed to the public for rebuilding, which is expected to be completed by September 2010.<		The '''Vatican Library''' (Latin: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana) is the [[library]] of the [[Holy See]], currently located in [[Vatican City]]. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 [[codex\|codices]] from throughout history.<sup>[]</sup> From July 2007, the library has been temporarily closed to the public for rebuilding, which is expected to be completed by September 2010.

	==Historical periods==		==Historical periods==
	Scholars have traditionally divided the history of the library into five periods.<~~ref~~>~~See "Vatican Library", ''~~[~~[Dictionary of the Middle Ages]~~]~~''.~~</~~ref~~>		Scholars have traditionally divided the history of the library into five periods.<sup>[]</sup>

	*'''Pre-Lateran'''. The initial days of the library, dating from the earliest days of the church, before it moved to the [[Lateran Palace]]; only a negligible number of volumes survive from this period, though some are very significant.		*'''Pre-Lateran'''. The initial days of the library, dating from the earliest days of the church, before it moved to the [[Lateran Palace]]; only a negligible number of volumes survive from this period, though some are very significant.
Line 12:		Line 12:

	==Establishment==		==Establishment==
	[[Pope Nicholas V]] established the library in the Vatican in 1448 by combining some 350 Greek, Latin and Hebrew [[codex\|codices]] inherited from his predecessors with his own collection and extensive acquisitions, among them manuscripts from the imperial [[Library of Constantinople]]. The ''Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana'' was established in 1475.<~~ref name=vfl~~/>		[[Pope Nicholas V]] established the library in the Vatican in 1448 by combining some 350 Greek, Latin and Hebrew [[codex\|codices]] inherited from his predecessors with his own collection and extensive acquisitions, among them manuscripts from the imperial [[Library of Constantinople]]. The ''Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana'' was established in 1475.<sup>[]</sup>

	When its first librarian, [[Bartolomeo Platina]], produced a listing in 1481, the library held over 3,500 items, making it by far the largest in the Western world. Around 1587, [[Pope Sixtus V]] commissioned the architect [[Domenico Fontana]] to construct a new building for the library; it is still in use today. Books were displayed on benches to which they were chained.		When its first librarian, [[Bartolomeo Platina]], produced a listing in 1481, the library held over 3,500 items, making it by far the largest in the Western world. Around 1587, [[Pope Sixtus V]] commissioned the architect [[Domenico Fontana]] to construct a new building for the library; it is still in use today. Books were displayed on benches to which they were chained.
Line 33:		Line 33:
	The Vatican Library is a research library for history, law, philosophy, science and theology, open to anyone who can document their qualifications and their research needs to view the collection. Photocopies for private study of pages from books published between 1801 and 1990 can be requested in person or by mail.		The Vatican Library is a research library for history, law, philosophy, science and theology, open to anyone who can document their qualifications and their research needs to view the collection. Photocopies for private study of pages from books published between 1801 and 1990 can be requested in person or by mail.

	The Library closed on 17 July 2007, until September 2010.<~~ref name=bbc~~/>		The Library closed on 17 July 2007, until September 2010.sup>[]</sup>

	A School of [[library science\|Library Science]] is associated with the Vatican Library.		A School of [[library science\|Library Science]] is associated with the Vatican Library.

	In 1959, a Film Library was established.<~~ref~~>[~~http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_16111959_statute-film-library_en.html~~]</~~ref~~> This is not to be confused with the [[Vatican Film Library]], which was established in 1953 at [[Saint Louis University]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].		In 1959, a Film Library was established.<sup>[]</sup> This is not to be confused with the [[Vatican Film Library]], which was established in 1953 at [[Saint Louis University]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].

	==Manuscripts==		==Manuscripts==
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	* [[Marcellus II\|Marcellus Cervini]] (1548–1555)		* [[Marcellus II\|Marcellus Cervini]] (1548–1555)
	* [[Gulielmus Allen (cardinalis)\|Gulielmus Allen]]		* [[Gulielmus Allen (cardinalis)\|Gulielmus Allen]]
	* [[Scipio Borghese (saeculum XVII)\|Scipio Borghese]]<(1609–1618)		* [[Scipio Borghese (saeculum XVII)\|Scipio Borghese]](1609–1618)
	* [[Lucas Holstenius]] (1653– )		* [[Lucas Holstenius]] (1653– )
	* [[Flavius Chigi]] (1659–1661)		* [[Flavius Chigi]] (1659–1661)
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	==External links==		==External links==
	~~{{commons-inline\|Category:Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana\|Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana}}~~
	* [http://www.vaticanlibrary.va/ Vatican Library home page]		* [http://www.vaticanlibrary.va/ Vatican Library home page]
	* [http://bav.vatican.va/en/v_home_bav/home_bav.shtml Vatican Library old home page], with online catalog search		* [http://bav.vatican.va/en/v_home_bav/home_bav.shtml Vatican Library old home page], with online catalog search