Rome, Italy, Jul 26, 2010 / 04:30 am
After being closed for three years for restructuring and restoration, the Apostolic Vatican Library will reopen on September 20. The renewed facilities will provide easier access to the wealth of information the library houses.
The announcement of the reopening originally came from the prefect of the Vatican library, Msgr. Cesare Pasini, last December, but speaking with Vatican Radio on Sunday, he refreshed the anticipation for the occasion.
He explained in an interview that having the library closed for the last three years has permitted "so many works" to be carried out which will shortly be available for the benefit of scholars. It will be easier to move in the library, he said, and access to the contents of the library will be made easier through "more refined computerized services."
The Vatican library maintains more than one million printed books, over 150,000 manuscript volumes, hundreds of thousands of coins and medals and around 70,000 prints and engravings.