Editing Vatican Library (section)

==Location and building==
[[File:Statues of Saint Hippolytus.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Ancient Roman sculpture, maybe of [[Saint Hippolytus]] of Rome, found in 1551 at Via Tiburtina, Rome, and now at the Vatican Library]]

The library is located inside the [[Vatican Palace]], and the entrance is through the [[Belvedere Courtyard]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/altre-istituzioni/biblioteca-apostolica-vaticana.html | title=Vatican Apostolic Library | publisher=Vaticanstate.va | access-date=28 July 2014 | archive-date=18 August 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818223700/http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/altre-istituzioni/biblioteca-apostolica-vaticana.html | url-status=live }}</ref> When [[Pope Sixtus V]] (1585-1590) commissioned the expansion and the new building of the Vatican Library, he had a three-story wing built right across Bramante's Cortile del Belvedere, thus bisecting it and changing Bramante's work significantly.<ref name="God's Librarians" /> At the bottom of a grand staircase a large statue of [[Saint Hippolytus|Hippolytus]] decorates the La Galea entrance hall.<ref name="osservatoreromano.va">{{cite web |url=http://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/the-popes-visit-to-the-vatican-library#.U9h5zm9X-uY |title=The Pope's Visit to the Vatican Library |date=19 December 2010 |website=[[L'Osservatore Romano]] |access-date=April 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808055316/http://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/the-popes-visit-to-the-vatican-library#.U-Rl0-fP1D8 |archive-date=August 8, 2014}}</ref>

In the first semi-basement there is a [[papyrus]] room and a storage area for manuscripts.<ref name="osservatoreromano.va"/> The first floor houses the [[Conservation and restoration of books, manuscripts, documents and ephemera|restoration]] laboratory, and the photographic archives are on the second floor.<ref name="osservatoreromano.va"/>

The library has {{convert|42|km}} of shelving.<ref name="itworld">{{cite web|last1=Del Nibletto|first1=Paolo|title=The Vatican Library CIO's sacred mission: To digitize everything|url=http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/the-vatican-library-cios-sacred-mission-to-digitize-everything/92826|website=itworldcanada.com|date=6 May 2014|publisher=IT World Canada|access-date=28 July 2014|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310120339/https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/the-vatican-library-cios-sacred-mission-to-digitize-everything/92826|url-status=live}}</ref>

The library closed for renovations on 17 July 2007<ref name=bbc>{{cite news
  | last = Willey
  | first = David
  | title = Vatican Library closure irks scholars
  | work = BBC News
  | date = 17 July 2007
  | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6901606.stm
  | access-date = 17 July 2007
  | archive-date = 26 August 2007
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070826093452/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6901606.stm
  | url-status = live
  }}</ref> and reopened on 20 September 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vaticanlibrary.va/home.php?ling=eng&res=1366x768 |title=Vatican Library Homepage |access-date=13 September 2010 |archive-date=19 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119010827/https://www.vaticanlibrary.va/home.php?ling=eng&res=1366x768 |url-status=live }}</ref> The three-year, 9&nbsp;million euro renovation involved the complete shut down of the library to install climate controlled rooms.<ref name="nbcnews">{{cite news|last1=Winfield|first1=Nicole|title=Vatican library reopens after 3-year restoration|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39193265/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/vatican-library-reopens-after--year-restoration/#.U9aubW9X-uY|access-date=28 July 2014|publisher=NBC News|date=15 November 2010|archive-date=28 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728233344/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39193265/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/vatican-library-reopens-after--year-restoration/#.U9aubW9X-uY|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Architecture and art===
In the ''Sala di Consultazione'' or main reference room of the Vatican Library looms a statue of [[St Thomas Aquinas]] ({{Circa|1910}}), sculpted by [[Cesare Aureli]]. A second version of this statue ({{Circa|1930}}) stands under the entrance [[portico]] of the [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas|Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, ''Angelicum'']].{{efn|This sculpture is described in the following words: "S. Tommaso seduto, nella sinistra tiene il libro della ''Summa theologica'', mentre stende la destra in atto di proteggere la scienza cristiana. Quindi non siede sulla cattedra di dottore, ma sul trono di sovrano protettore; stende il braccio a rassicurare, non a dimostrare.  Ha in testa il dottorale berretto, e conservando il suo tipo tradizionale, rivela nel volto e nell'atteggiamento l'uomo profondamente dotto. L'autore non ha avuto da ispirarsi in altr'opera che esistesse sul soggetto, quindi ha dovuto, può dirsi, creare questo tipo, ed è riuscito originale e felice nella sua creazione."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G7sfGuQOM2EC&q=%22Vatican&pg=PA85 |title=History and culture in Italy |first=John |last=Hendrix |publisher=University Press of America |access-date=9 September 2012 |isbn=9780761826286 |year=2003 |archive-date=10 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310120241/https://books.google.com/books?id=G7sfGuQOM2EC&q=%22Vatican&pg=PA85#v=snippet&q=%22Vatican&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_No_AAAAYAAJ&q=%22S.+Tommaso+seduto&pg=RA1-PA75 |title=Nel giubileo episcopale di Leone XIII. omaggio della Biblioteca vaticana XIX febbraio anno MDCCCXCIII |access-date=9 September 2012 |last1=Vaticana |first1=Biblioteca Apostolica |year=1893 |archive-date=10 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310120337/https://books.google.com/books?id=_No_AAAAYAAJ&q=%22S.+Tommaso+seduto&pg=RA1-PA75#v=snippet&q=%22S.%20Tommaso%20seduto&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="200px" heights="170px">
File:The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library (2994335291).jpg|The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library
File:Golden rose Biblioteca apostolica.jpg|Golden Rose stored in the Vatican Library
File:Plafond_Sale_Sistine_-_Salle_des_Archives_pontificales_(2).jpg|Ceiling fresco of the Sistine Hall (photograph by Jean-Pol Grandmont)
</gallery>