Vatican Apostolic Library

The Vatican Apostolic Library, a library in the Vatican founded around 1450 by Pope Nicholas V, has in its holdings over 800,000 books and 60,000 manuscripts, 7,000 incunabula and over 800,000 engravings, maps and other printed works.

In the Sistine Salon, designed by Domenico Fontana, you can admire “biblical codes”, illustrated gospels, valuable parchments and ancient papyri in exhibition cases.”

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The tasks and duties of the apostolic library include:

  • Preservation and protection of cultural property;
  • Supplementing the collection with manuscripts, books and objects by purchase, exchange and donation;
    • Preserving and safeguarding cultural property;
    • Researching the collection with manuscripts, books and objects
    • Research on the collection and the possibility of scholarly publication;
    • Presentation of the collection to scholars from all over the world and updating of the technical facilities.