Founded by
Nicholas V Parentucelli (1447/55) in 1451 and made “official” by Sixtus IV Della
Rovere (1471/84)
The
building was erected in the years 1587/89 by Domenico
Fontana (1543/1607) for Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90) dividing in two, the
Belvedere courtyard by Bramante
About
800,000 printed volumes, 100,000 maps and engravings, 75,000 manuscripts,
70,000 archival volumes, more than 100,000 separate original documents, about
8,200 incunabula
Gallery of Urban VIII
Decoration begun by Giovanni Paolo Schor (1615/74) and resumed in 1756
Two “Planispheres” of 1529, one by Diego
Ribera, and one by Giovanni da Verrazano,
in which the New World was still largely “Terra Incognita”
“Celestial
globe painted” 1567 by Giovanni
Antonio Vanosio (1535/93) for Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps
It was
attributed to Giulio Romano for a misunderstood phrase written by Giorgio
Vasari
Two Sistine Rooms
Walls
Lunettes
“St.
Peter's Basilica according to the design of Michelangelo” and “Transportation of the obelisk in St. Peter's Square” 1590 by Giovanni
Guerra (1544/1618) and Cesare Nebbia
(1536/1614)
Four tiny fragments of the moon collected by the astronauts of the
Apollo 11 mission and given to the pope by the U.S. President Richard Nixon
They are
exhibited near a Vatican flag that was taken to the moon by the same astronauts
Small Gallery of the Library
“Hebrew Bible” 1295 by the Urbinate
Sistine Hall
1587/89 Domenico Fontana 80 x 16 m (262 x 53 feet)
It was the
reading room of the library
Pendentives
and lunettes “Views of Rome”
Between the
windows “The book through the centuries” and “Glorification of the pontificate of Sixtus V”
The
decoration was directed by Giovanni Guerra
(1544/1618) and Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614) and
executed by Paul Brill (1554/1626), Ventura Salimbeni (1568/1613), G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624), Andrea Lilio
(about 1555/1632), Orazio Lomi aka Orazio Gentileschi
(1563/1639), G.B. Pozzo (1561/91), Avanzino Nucci (1552/1629) and others
“What
Ventura Salimbeni had in mind was the unusual color effect, the originality in
composition: he cared little for careful preparation and diligent execution.
And since the enormous works done under Sixtus V and Clement VIII did not allow
a careful examination of individual works, Salimbeni obtained the desired
result: his work was chromatically distinguished from the other painters' and
attracted the attention” (Hermann Voss)
The wooden
cabinets of 1645 once contained manuscripts
Two Pauline Rooms
Prepared for Paul V Borghese (1605/21) for storing Greek codes
“Episodes from the Life of Paul V” 1620 by G.B.
Ricci (about 1550/1624)
In Room II
“Machine to prepare papal bulls” invented by Donato Bramante (1444/1514)
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