The Vatican Apostolic library commonly known as the Vatican
library is the library of the Holy See. The Holy See is the Episcopal Jurisdiction
of the Catholic Church. The library is located in the Vatican City, Rome.
The Vatican Library was established in 1475 however it has
75,000 much older codices than its established date. Codices are collected papers,
all bound by a cover, like a book but doesn’t have the specifics of a book.
The Vatican Library holds manuscripts and printed books,
these resources all tell many stories. These texts explain the renaissance
through art, scholarship and science in Rome and elsewhere. They shed light on
Catholic Counter Reformation and reveal conflicts that appeared when the church
policy could not be carried out.
The Vatican has an online resource library which can be
viewed at: http://www.vatican.va/archive/index.htm
The Vatican Library’s resources can be viewed to the public but
some resources are forbidden to be seen by the public, “The popes had always
had a library, but in the middle of the fifteenth century they began to collect
books in a new way. Nicholas V decided to create a public library for "the
court of Rome"--the whole world of clerics and laymen, cardinals and
scholars who inhabited the papal palace and its environs. He and Sixtus IV
provided the library with a suite of rooms. These were splendidly frescoed,
lighted by large windows, and furnished with elaborate wooden benches to which
most books were chained. And, unlike some modern patrons, the popes of the
Renaissance cared about the books as well as about the buildings that housed
them. They bought, borrowed, and even stole the beautiful handwritten books of
the time. The papal library soon became as spectacular a work of art, in its
own way, as the Sistine Chapel or Saint Peter's. It grew rapidly; by 1455 it
had 1200 books, 400 of them Greek; by 1481, a handwritten catalogue by the
librarian, Platina, showed 3500 entries--by far the largest collection of books
in the Western world. And it never stopped growing, thanks to bequests,
purchases, and even, sometimes, military conquests...”- [Books for popes and scholars]
To know more please view the video below- great resource!
I found this information through using Google which led me
to various websites referenced below, I think these websites were very helpful
and interesting because I discovered things I had no idea about.
Books for popes and
scholars, The Vatican Library, viewed 22 April 2012, <http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/a-vatican_lib/Vatican_lib.html>
The Vatican library
2010, Rome reborn: the Vatican library & the renaissance, viewed 22
April 2012, < http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/vatican/vatican.html>
Vatican Library 2012, Wikipedia,
viewed 22 April 2012, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Library>
Knowing the Vatican
library through a new expedition 2010, Youtube, viewed 22 Aprip 2012, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMkMsbU-30A>
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