The Vatican library

The Vatican library is one of the oldest libraries in the world. It is an exclusive library of the Holy See, which is located in Vatican City. This library has historical collections that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The Vatican library was formally established in the year 1475; it was closed to the public in July 2007 for rebuilding but later reopened in September 2010. The current Vatican library was moved to its current location in Vatican City at the year 1448 and it has since then retained its location. There were other previous libraries In different locations that contained Vatican documents which were mainly being used by the popes.

The following are the previous periods of Catholic history which are aligned with the historical periods of the Vatican library:

Pre-Lateran: the most initial period of the library. The Pre- Lateran era marks the earliest days of the church. There are a few Vatican documents which originated in this period.

Lateran: this period followed the Pre-Lateran and it lasted until the end of the 13th century

Avignon: this period lasted until 1370 and it played a major role in the great growth of book collection and the keeping of records.

Pre-Vatican: this version of the library lasted between 1370 and 1446. It had its branches in Rome, Avignon and other parts.
Vatican: the current period. The Vatican period of the library started in 1448 . The current Vatican library was established by Pope Nicholas V, who combined 350 Greek, Latin and Hebrew codices that were inherited from the previous libraries plus collections and other Vatican documents that he had acquired himself. The library had a rich collection of several bequests and achievements over centuries and it continued to attract world attention.

Today, The Vatican library holds more than 1.1 million printed books including 8500 incunabula, 75000 manuscripts, among millions of items.Some of the notable Vatican documents include the Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209, Joshua Roll, Barberini Gospels, Vergilius Romanus, Vergilius Vaticanus, LibriCarolini, and many more.The Vatican library is a treasure of knowledge. You will find there writings on history, science, art, archaeology, philosophy,and law.

Ever since its establishment the Vatican library has been used for various uses among them research.
The Vatican documents are said to be a major source of research information for history, science,philosophy, law and theology. This research center is open to anybody who wants to access this information for research purposes and even photocopying some of the Vatican documents is allowed when requested.
A film Library was also established in 1959 in collaboration with the Vatican library. This was done in order to promote the culture, history and architecture that is associated with the Vatican library.
The library has a statue of St Thomas of Aquinas in its main reference room, which was sculpted by Cesare Aureliin in 1910.

The Vatican library has had numerous librarians from the time it was established. The librarians have played significant roles in maintaining the standards of this world class library. The library has remained a major source of information to people, including popes.In 2012, the Bodleian Library collaborated with The Vatican library in a combined effort to digitalize millions of Vatican documents. The library is now being integrated into the modern technology.