Vatican Museums

The Library of the Vatican Museums, established in the 1930s, brings together ancient and modern texts and prints related to the works in the collections of the Vatican Museums. The current holdings amount to over 60,000 titles.

The thematic sections offer an overview of the many collections housed in the Pope's Museums: from Prehistory to Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Etruscan antiquities and epigraphy. Topics related to early Christian and medieval, modern and contemporary art, as well as the restoration and conservation of works of art, are other important subjects that we seek to document and keep up to date by selecting and acquiring the most significant newly published texts. Finally, the ethnological section is worthy of special mention.

The bequests that have enriched the Library over the years include those of the Marquises Guglielmi di Vulci, in 1934 (archaeology and classical antiquities), the volumes donated by the Verbite fathers Michael Schulien and Wilhelm Schmidt (ethnology, anthropology), the volumes of Cardinal Jorge María Mejía, Bruno Mantura (nineteenth and twentieth century art), Maria Antonietta De Angelis (eighteenth century art and antiques), Gianroberto Scarcia and Etta Corradi (twentieth century art), Annamaria Quagliotti (Indian culture, religion and art), Giancarlo Monaco (travel and exploration) and Guido Cornini (the Vatican, Flemish and German art, so-called “minor” arts).