My first visit to the Vatican library - Spring in Rome as PhD student

[This post is a translation of a blog post I wrote on JYU Medieval studies blog in June 2020. The original post can be found here.]

The first spring of my doctorate program started with a bang. I spent the spring of 2020 in the Finnish Institute in Rome, where I worked as a part of the research group of the director Arja Karivieri. The building where the institute is situated, Villa Lante, is without a doubt on the best spot in Rome, from which one can admire all of Rome. The surroundings were motivational to say the least, and I was looking forward to the working possibilities of the coming spring. Along with the work in the research group, my aim was to start to write my doctoral thesis as efficiently as possible. Because my research focus deals with Italian Renaissance manuscripts and incunables, the Eternal City offered a perfect framework. I had planned to utilize the multiple libraries of Rome to find research literature, but my main aim was to visit the Vatican Apostolic Library, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

A view from the balcony of Villa Lante. Picture: Riikka Vuoksenmaa

 

In addition to a comprehensive collection of modern research literature, the Vatican Library holds in itself one of the largest collections of manuscripts. In my doctoral thesis, I study the copies of Renaissance humanist Flavio Biondo's (1392-1463) historiographical work Historiarum ab inclinatione Romanorum imperii decades. Many of these manuscript copies dwell in the Vatican library. So, I had to jump immediately to the deep end of the pool so to speak, and start collecting the source material for my thesis. My thoughts filled with excitement but also with worry. First I pondered whether they would let me in to those precious artifacts at all. But fortune favors the bold as they say. Therefore, I left, a recommendation letter and my laptop at hand, and with a serious look on my face, towards the Vatican on Friday, 24th of January, 2020.

In hindsight, the whole process went smoothly. On the Vatican border, I was directed towards the library. There, after a brief interview, the secretary gave me a library card and pointed me to the elevator. When I arrived to the third floor, where the manuscripts and incunables were consulted, I briefly forgot everything. My attention was at the great hall I was in. Countless books in several stories, which covered the walls of the current reading room built by pope Leo XIII in 1892. The librarian behind the service desk apparently noticed my amazement and asked if I needed assistance. When I told her my need, she guided me to a smaller room. The inquiry system of manuscripts in the Vatican library was very modern. You put the information of the manuscript into search engine, and after a dozen or so minutes a member of the library staff brought the manuscripts to a desk, from where they could be brought to a working station one at a time.

When I was presented with the first manuscript, I noticed a smile on my face. Before my eyes opened a beautiful mid-fifteenth-century manuscript copy of Biondo's Decades. Its frontal leaf was decorated with many different colours. The manuscript was made of fine parchment and the text was easily readable humanistic littera antiqua script. After the initial astonishment, I started the inspection of the manuscript. Along with counting quires and writing down annotations I tried to identify the previous owners of the copy. This is not always simple, for the original recipient of the copy might not have left any records of himself to the leaves. The inspection of the manuscript was very fast due to the humanistic script, which was created in the 15th century as a competitor for the, at times obscure, Gothic script. For my delight, I noticed to be able to read this humanistic Latin without much difficulty.

I sunk into my work so deeply, that I forgot to eat lunch on the first day. On the following days, I ate at the cafe in the courtyard of the library, where one could get great salads with a reasonable price. Moreover, you had to spend the entire day in the Vatican, for exiting the building proved too time consuming. All in all, I tried to visit the Vatican library twice a week at minimum. Those days went fast, and more than once I forgot myself between the bookshelves to read some interesting tome. Working in the Vatican library demanded patience, if I wanted to go through as much source material as possible. This was, in hindsight, very wise for in late February the coronavirus hit Italy with all its power.

Due to the virus, whole Italy froze from March onward. All the libraries closed their doors, including the Vatican library. At first, the situation made our work in the institute difficult, but in the end we adapted fairly quickly. We had access to the Institute library and to the multiple digital archives of different international institutions. The quarantine taught me, that working does not need to stop even though one has no access to physical copies of the research literature. However, the access to the source material proved more difficult for much of it has yet to be digitized. Luckily, the Vatican library is a precursor in the matter and has digitized many of its collections. There is a lesson here regarding the source material as well as the research literature: A book in a library is of no use, if no one can access it. Overall, it was a pleasure to notice that today you can continue working even if the world shuts down for a few months. The special spring guaranteed that the beginning of my path as a doctoral student was an unforgettable experience.