310 IV. Right Bank. ROME. e. The Vatican;
above-mentioned grave of the Regulini-Galassi at Cerveteri (ca. 600 B.C.).
69. Etruscan lituus or signal-trumpet. By the wall near the door: bronze
plates like shields, with heads in relief in the middle, used as decora¬
tions for the ceilings and doors of the graves. — In the XII. Room, on
the left, is an imitation of an Etruscan tomb, with three sepulchral steles,
vases, etc. ; at the entrance two lions from Vulci. The cabinet in the centre
contains bronzes from Bolsena, including two heads in relief of idols with
the attributes of several gods ; by the window small ornaments and objects
in glass. Also several Chinese curiosities.
C. Library.
The Library and the Museum of Antiques may be conveniently visited
in succes ion (adm. see pp. 126, 127). Entrance p. 296: for readers in the
Cortile di S. Damaso, for visitors by the glass-door at the bottom of the
staircase to the Sala a Croce Greca (comp. pp. 125, 279; visitors knock;
fee 1/2I fr.). Comp. Pian, p. 268.
At a very early period the popes began to preserve and to collect
documents and thus gradually formed the Archives, which are men¬
tioned for the first time under Damasus I. After various losses,
caused especially by the migration to Avignon, and frequent change
of locality, most of the library is now finally established in the Vatican
in twenty-five rooms, in addition to the great library-hall. The
Archives comprise a large number of the most interesting and
important documents, especially of the middle ages, registers of the
papal acts, letters of the popes from Innocent III. downwards, and
correspondence with nuncios and foreign courts. Visitors and readers,
who require the permission of the Cardiual-Secretary, admitted
8.30-12 on the same days as the library is open (p. 125).
Besides this collection of documents, the popes possessed their
private libraries until Nicholas V. instituted a public Library, with
9000 vols., and appointed Giovanni Tortelli as the first librarian.
The library was neglected and dispersed by his successors. Sixtus IV.
was the first to revive the institution ; he assigned a locality under the
Sistine Chapel for the collection, appointed Platina (1475) director, and set
apart definite revenues for its maintenance. Thus endowed, it increased stead-
ily, and the allotted space became more and more inadequate, until in 1588
Sixtus V. caused the present magnificent edifice to be erected by Domenico
Fontana, intersecting the great court of Bramante. To this ever-increasing
collection several considerable libraries have been added by purchase or
donation, some of which are catalogued and preserved separately. In 1623 the
Elector Maximilian presented to the Pope the Bibliotheca Palatina of Heidel¬
berg, when the town was taken in the Thirty Years' War ; and in 1657 the
Bill. TJrbinas, founded by Duke Federigo da Montefeltro, in 1690 the B.
Reginensis, once the property of Queen Christina of Sweden, and in 1746
the B. Ottoboniana, purchased by Alex. Vili. (Ottobuoni), were added. In
1797, 813 MSS. were carried off by the French but were restored in 1814.
with the exception of 38 from the B. Palatina which were returned to
Heidelberg. In 1816 the German MSS. (848 in number) of the same collec¬
tion were also restored to Heidelberg.
The Vatican Library now contains upwards of 26,000MSS., of
which about 19,000 are Latin, 4000 Greek, and 2000 Orientai.
The principal librarian is a cardinal, who in ordinary business is
represented by the under-librarian and two custodians. Permission
to use the library (p. 125) can only be obtained from the Cardinal-
Secretary on the recommendation of the traveller's ambassador, or
Permalink: http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/j9q8f
