Vatican Library Newsletter 1/2008

Newsletter 1/2008 from the Vatican Library regarding the ongoing reconstruction work

Dear Readers and Friends,

This letter, which introduces the renovated website of the Vatican Library (http://www.vaticanlibrary.va), is also being sent to the friends of the Library: those readers who are waiting for it to reopen, those who take an interest in our activities, and all those who share a sense of our mission of culture and a taste for research into the past and into the writings and other treasures which we have received and which we preserve in the interest of humanity.
The renovation of the website is more than a mere freshening up of the graphics and of the structure of the pages. However i hope that the new site and its organization, which has been thought out in every detail by our technical staff, will represent a welcome and useful improvement.
The renovation of the website is also more than just a totally revised and updated presentation of the texts and of the images which it comprises. However, we will be happy if users are able to appreciate its contents, which are intended to present the Library, the services it provides, its history and its activities. This task involves many members of the staff - ideally, all of them, in collaboration with those who have the direct responsibility of composing these pages. Gradually, we would like to provide, for each of the different sectors which compose the Vatican Library as well as for the Library as a whole, indications and information which will allow users to get to know the main activities, initiatives, choices, decisions and events which compose the life of the community and of the Institution which is the Vatican Library.
In addition, in the peculiar situation of the present months, this new website is intended as a message addressed to those who take an interest in the Library and who are watching it intently during this period of closure to the public. We are not simply closed. Rather, we are closed and at work. Better still, the reopening which is now being prepared through building and refurbishment activities of various kinds is one which we wish to anticipate virtually, as it were, by opening ourselves up to new contacts and to communication with all those who are interested in the steps we are taking along this path.

1. Remarks on the works in progress

I would like to begin with some remarks on the works in progress, which, as has already been announced, concern four main areas of the Library: the manuscript stacks; the Numismatic Department; the Restoration and Photographic Laboratories; and the stacks for periodicals.
In all of these areas, the volumes and the equipment which filled the rooms have had to be removed - an operation which has itself required considerable amount of time - before the actual refurbishment works could begin. In the meantime, it was necessary to continue with the usual work of restoration of manuscripts and other items, and with the production of reproductions (in fact, the closure has caused a great increase in the number of orders for reproductions). As a result, the two laboratories have been set up temporarily in the Printed Books Reading Room and in the Manuscripts Reading Room, respectively, so that they can continue to function even though they have been uprooted from their normal environment.
When they return to the Library, readers will find pleasant surprises, starting with the entrance itself. More details of this and other matters will be given in a later newsletter.
For now I will let a series of photographs tell the story of the removal of the manuscripts and of the laboratory equipment.
 

2. Projects

Moving on to matters concerning the Library itself, I would like to point out, first of all, that the OPAC page now includes, in addition to the other items which have been there for some time, also an online http://www.vaticanlibrary.va/home.php?pag=sceltacat. This catalogue is still a work in progress; for now it contains only a limited amount of data which has been gathered from inventories, bibliographies, catalogues, card catalogues and publications. However, those manuscript descriptions which have been completed already include, wherever possible, a choice of images which may be freely consulted.
Regarding scientific publications, I refer you to the relevant section of the new website. I would like to mention in greater detail the publication of an artistic map of Vatican City, which has been drawn and engraved in copper using traditional chalcographic methods. The first copy of this Civitas Vaticana was offered as a gift to Pope Benedict last January 25, and the Pontiff brought a copy as a gift during his recent visit to the United Nations. As its elder sister, the Forma Vrbis Romae, published for the Jubilee Year 2000, was intended to represent the city of Rome, the Civitas Vaticana is an exact and topographically up-to-date representation of Vatican City whose purpose is to anticipate the celebrations which will culminate next February 11 to mark the eightieth anniversary of this tiny sovereign state.

3. The Spirit of the Vatican Library

The Civitas Vaticana print is more particularly linked to the visit which the Holy Father made to the Library on June 25, 2007, and it carries a dedication to Pope Benedict with reference to that occasion. A series of essays about manuscripts and other materials belonging to the Library was also prepared with the purpose (as its title indicates) of marking the Visita del Santo Padre Benedetto XVI alla Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
It is to honour the first anniversary of that event that the Vatican Library is opening its new website today, on June 25 2008. As the Pope noted in his speech, the Vatican Library has been entrusted by the Popes, since its beginnings, with the task of being pro communi doctorum virorum commodo - for the use and common interest of scholars (thus Nicolas V) - and ad decorem militantis Ecclesiae et fidei augmentum - for the decorum of the militant Church and for the dissemination of the faith (thus Sixtus IV). To use terms which are more usual today and which were indeed used by Benedict XVI, this means that the Library is to be a welcoming house of knowledge, culture and humanity, which opens its doors to scholars from every part of the world, irrespective of their origin, religion or culture, while fostering the synthesis between culture and faith which transpires from the valuable documents and treasures in your custody, from the walls that surround you, from the Museums near you and from the splendid, luminous Basilica which can be seen from your windows.
Speaking to those who work in the Library, at all levels and in all their various functions, Pope Benedict urged us always to view your work as a true mission to be carried out with passion and patience, kindness and a spirit of faith.
The works which will lead to the reopening of the Library in 2010, and all the related activities, not least the renovation of this website, are to be understood as a small but conscious contribution to the mission which has been entrusted to us.

4. Looking towards the reopening

It is not possible at present to provide specifics regarding the reopening in 2010. However, I am pleased to be able to announce two initiatives which will serve to celebrate that moment.
The first is the publication of a history of the Vatican Library, which will probably be divided into seven volumes. The first of these will deal with the years from Nicolas V to Clement VII and will be published, precisely, in 2010. It is meant to be a work of synthesis, with numerous authors, based upon all the research necessary to clarify the subject matter; a work which will be useful to scholars and experts, but which will also be of interest and profit to anyone who wishes to become familiar with the history of the “Library of the Popes”.
We also wish to share the LibraryÂ’s history and our view of its future after the reopening with scholars who frequent the Library, who know it or take an interest in it. With this in mind, in the fall of 2010, a Conference will take place which will touch upon two themes: the Library as a research site (in the various disciplines); and the Library at the service of research (in the multiplicity of the services it offers).

5. Practical information, acknowledgements and greetings

First of all, I would like to mention that this Newsletter is being sent to all the readers who have visited the Vatican Library in recent years and to the members of the American Friends of the Vatican Library, as well as to various institutions and persons who we believe may be interested. It will normally appear three times a year. I would encourage everyone to register at the Library’s website, where it will also be possible to change the language in which you wish to receive the Newsletter (English or Italian), provide your personal data, and request a special Newsletter for the School of Library Science (and, in future, also a special Newsletter for Readers and one about Upcoming Events). I should be grateful if recipients would forward this Newsletter to others who may be interested, and would inform them of the possibility of registering as described above. If you wish to be removed from the mailing list, please click here. My thanks go to all those whose patience is being tested along with ours during these months of closure. I address to all of you, on behalf of Cardinal Raffaele Farina, Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, and on behalf of the entire staff of the Library, a heartfelt greeting whose sincerity will, I hope, make up in some small measure for the difficulties that the closure of the Library has necessarily brought about for you.

Msgr Cesare Pasini
Prefect