VATICAN CITY, JUNE 25, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The 16th-century building that houses the Vatican Library has serious structural problems, which are forcing the institution to close for a three-year restoration project.
Library officials had attempted to avoid closing the library, moving some 300,000 volumes away from places where the concrete is weakening. However, experts determined that the restoration project could no longer be delayed.
Officials will take advantage of the restoration time and reorganize the library's collections. The building will also have air conditioning and elevators installed.
In a June 13 article in L'Osservatore Romano, Bishop Raffaele Farina, formerly the prefect of the library and now the Vatican archivist and librarian, said that news of the closing was received by scholars "with great surprise."
Bishop Farina added that the news was given an erroneous spin when it was originally released a few months ago and broadcast by an English-language radio station.
Certain reports presented the length of the restoration as drastic. But the bishop cited similar projects undertaken by other libraries, such as the Library of St. Ambrose in Milan, which has been closed for restoration for seven years.
"The problems of the Vatican Library are caused by the building's age and by the limited space for the library's contents and its personnel," Bishop Farina explained.
Continued services
To ensure the continuation and increase of services during the period of the library's closure, researchers can begin in April 2008 to consult an on-line catalog, contact library officials by e-mail, obtain photographic reproductions (photocopies, microfilm and slides) and digital images of manuscripts and prints, the bishop said.
Moreover, many of the library's books were moved to a temporary location and copies of the manuscripts and ancient books will be available through photographic reproduction for researchers.
"People in the United States have the possibility to consult the Vatican Film Library at St. Louis University in Missouri, which houses more than 37,000 microfilms of manuscripts of our library," Bishop Farina added.
He pointed out that "the work to be done over the next three years will ensure that any future work to be done will not require the library to close down."
Painful but necessary
The 73-year-old bishop added that "the Vatican Library is closing in order to improve the work of scholars and library personnel for decades to come; the closure, painful but necessary, is being done with a view to better serve the work of study, which is the vocation of the Vatican."
Pope Nicholas V founded the library in 1450 as a place to house his personal collection, comprised of hundreds of manuscripts.
In June 1475, with the papal bull "Ad Decorum Militantis Ecclesiae," Pope Sixtus IV gave the library juridical status, providing it with funds and personnel. In 1587, Pope Sixtus V commissioned Italian architect Domenico Fontana to design a building for the library, which is the one still used today.
The mission of the library, according to Pope John Paul II's 1988 apostolic constitution "Pastor Bonus," is to serve "this great instrument of the Church for the development, conservation and spread of the culture."
Today, the Vatican Library houses 1,600,000 ancient and modern books; 8,300 printed documents, including 65 parchments; 150,000 manuscript codes and archive papers; 300,000 coins and medals; and some 20,000 works of art.
Among the most notable works is the "Codex Vaticanus," the most ancient known manuscript of the Bible.
ZE07062503 - 2007-06-25