VATICAN'S APOSTOLIC LIBRARY REOPENS AFTER RENOVATION

THE VATICAN'S APOSTOLIC LIBRARY IS REOPENING TO SCHOLARS FOLLOWING A THREE-YEARS, $11.5 MILLION RENOVATION TO INSTALL CLIMATE CONTROLLED ROOMS FOR ITS PRECIOUS MANUSCRIPTS AND STATE OF THE ART SECURITY MEASURES TO PREVENT THEFT AND LOSS. THE LIBRARY, STARTED BY POPE NICHOLAS V IN THE 1450s, HOUSES ONE IF THE WORLD'S BEST COLLECTIONS OF ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS. IT INCLUDES THE OLDEST KNOWN COMPLETE BIBLE, DATING FROM ABOUT 325 AND BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE 50 BIBLES COMMISSIONED BY EMPEROR CONSTANTINE, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN ROMAN LEADER. IT REOPENS ITS FRESCOED HALLS TO SCHOLARS 20.SEPTEMBER. LIBRARY OFFICIALS TOOK PAINS TO NOTE THAT THE RENOVATION WORK WAS COMPLETED ON TIME, A RARITY IN ITALY BUT ALSO AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE INCONVENIENCE THE THREE YEAR CLOSURE CAUSED MANY SCHOLARS WHO HAD TO SUSPEND THEIR RESEARCH WHILE ITS COLLECTIONS OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF VOLUMES WERE IN STORAGE. SOME 4,000 TO 5,000 SCHOLARS ARE GIVEN PERMISSION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH IN THE LIBRARY EVERY YEAR; ACCESS IS GENERALLY RESTRICTED TO ACADEMICS CONDUCTING POST-GRADUATE LEVEL RESEARCH. NONE OF THE ITEMS IN THE LIBRARY CAN BE CHECKED OUT, AND RULES FOR WORKING INSIDE ARE STRICT: NO PENS, FOOD OR EVEN MINERAL WATER ARE ALLOWED IN THE MANUSCRIPT READING ROOM. RESEARCHERS WILL NOW FIND IMPROVED COMMUNICATIONS AND ELEVATOR ACCESS TO THE VATICAN'S VAST COLLECTION, AS WELL AS A NEW TOWER INSIDE THE VATICAN'S BELVEDERE CONSULTATION ROOMS. INSIDE THE BUNKER ITSELF, FIRE PROOF AND DUST PROOF FLOORS AND WALLS INSTALLED TO FURTHER PROTECT AND MANUSCRIPTS. THE LIBRARY'S 70,000 BOOKS HAVE BEEN OUTFITTED WITH COMPUTER CHIPS TO PREVENT LOSS AND THEFT, CLOSED CIRCUIT CAMERAS HAVE BEEN INSTALLED AND NEW AUTOMATED ENTRY AND EXIT GATES KEEP TABS ON WHO IS COMING AND GOING. THE SECURITY MEASURES STEM IN PART FROM AN INCIDENT IN WHICH AN OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY ART HISTORY PROFESSOR, ANTHONY MELNIKAS, SMUGGLED PAGES TORN FROM A 14th CENTURY VATICAN MANUSCRIPT THAT ONCE BELONGED TO PETRARCH. HE WAS SENTENCED IN 1996 TO 14 MONTHS IN PRISON AFTER ADMITTING HE TOOK THE PAGES DURING A RESEARCH VISIT IN 1987. DURING THE PRESENTATION AND TOUR OF THE LIBRARY RECENTLY, OFFICIALS SHOWED OFF A REPLICA OF THE ILLUMINATED URBINO BIBLE, PRODUCED FOR THE DUKE OF URBINO IN 1476-78 BY DAVID AND DOMINICO GHIRLANDAIO AND OTHERS. THE BIBLE, ONE OF THE FINEST WORKS OF ART IN THE 15th CENTURY, IS SAID TO CONTAIN OVER A KILO OF GOLD IN ITS ILLUSTRATED PAGES.