Vatican Apostolic Library

The Vatican Apostolic Library, or Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, is one of the oldest and most storied libraries in the world, housed in Vatican City. It was formally established by Pope Sixtus IV on June 15, 1475, building on an earlier vision to create a public-like center for humanist study. Today it holds about 75,000 codices and 1.1 million printed books, including roughly 8,500 incunabula, with works spanning history, law, philosophy, science, and theology. The library functions as a research library open to qualified readers, offering access to manuscripts and printed volumes while providing photocopy services for private study of pages published between 1801 and 1990. The Vatican Library is complemented by the Vatican Apostolic Archive, separated from the library in the 17th century and home to about 150,000 additional items. …

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