Vatican City, Feb 13, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Today the Vatican announced plans for its celebration honoring the Vatican museums, which turn 500 this year.
Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, and Francesco Buranelli, director of the Vatican Museums were both on hand in the Holy See’s media office this morning for a press conference outlining the planned initiatives.
During the meeting, Cardinal Szoka explained that "This is not a conventional or a merely symbolic anniversary…it marks the chance but fortunate discovery of the marble statue of Laocoon and his sons in 1506.”
“The anniversary”, he said, “seeks to unify a centuries-long history of culture and art promoted with constancy and competency by the Roman Pontiffs, who collected the works of the past to save them from oblivion and destruction, and to hand them down to later generations."