Vatican Library to reopen

The Vatican Library will reopen its doors to scholars Sept. 20^th – right on schedule - after a three year restoration and restructuring project. To celebrate the occasion, this November, the prestigious cultural institution is planning an exhibit, a conference and the publication of the very first edition of a volume on the history of the Library which opened in 1451.

We spoke to Prefect of the Vatican Library, Msgr. Cesare Pasini who explains that the reading rooms and the archives are ready and waiting to welcome back scholars.

“We are waiting for them and think that they will be pleased and that we will succeed in providing them with what they’re looking for: a peaceful place to study, well organized, good service and all that comes with it, so that everything works well.”

Some events are planned that will give the wider public a glimpse of what’s behind the walls that generally, only scholars have access to. An exhibit outlining the history and work of the Library will open from November 10 to the end of January 2011 in the Carlo Magno wing to the left of St. Peter’s Basilica so that anyone in Rome can have an idea of what goes on inside the institution.

The exhibit, Msgr Pasini assures us, that will give the public “a comprehensive idea of the activities, the cataloguing, (and) the restoration activities. At the entrance, while people are waiting to take the guided tour, people will be able to see facsimiles of manuscripts of which they, themselves, will be able to turn the pages.”

The Library Prefect explains that a conference will be held November 11-13 outlining the results of decades of study completed by the Vatican Library.

“One of the first sessions will deal specifically with research studies in various fields carried out from the Second World War to the present. We asked Italian and foreign scholars who frequent the Library to outline a little of the history of the research carried out in each field. In the second session, Library personnel will present the various work areas and offices of the institution: how they work, what changes have been made over recent decades.”

Msgr Pasini says just as everything evolves, so have the Vatican Library’s techniques of photographing, restoring and cataloguing material in its possession.

“We’ll also explain this,” he says. “Not to pat ourselves on the back, but to verify, and to receive suggestions, help and criticism if necessary.”