Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/339

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rated Museo Cristiano. Next comes the Vettori )llcction of gems, the second great aCQuisition of the ime pontiff. During the nineteenth century this useum grew to such an extent, owing to the excava- ons in the catacombs, that the largest pieces (such I the sarcophagi, the inscriptions, mosaics etc.) had I be transferred to the Lateran, where a second luseo Cristiano of greater importance has been tabhshed.

The remaining most valuable objects of the lesser ts of gold, silver, bronze, enamel, glass, bone, ivory, id, etc., form an unrivalled collection of its kind, be well-known medallion with the heads of Sts. ?ter and Paul, the golden pectoral cross found on the impo Verano (to which de Rossi has devoted a ecial monograph), the triptych of Penicaud of moges, and many other objects belong to the chief ories of this museum. Baron Kanzler has published 1 edition de luxe on the collection of ivory carvings, ie above-named Vettori was the first custodian this collection, which was later placed immediately ider the prefect of the hbrary. Under Leo XIII iovanni Battistade Rossi was named prefect of the useum, an honour intended only for him. To-day e directors of this division are again subordinate to e prefect of the library.

The Medagliere or numismatic collection was lencd in 15.5.5 under Marcellus II. Clement XII 730-40) added many objects to the collection, but medict XIV (1740-48) became its great benefactor, ' acquiring the incomparable Albani collection, lis glorious cabinet of coins is described by Venuti his " Antiqua Numismata maximi moduh ex Museo irdinalis Albani in Vaticanam Bibliothecam trans- ta" (2 vols., Rome, 1739-44). The acquisition of e Carpegna and Scilla collections also falls into this riod. Many of the objects were sold by the ench or — a fact which could not be detected in dividual cases — were secretly incorporated in the iris collection, so that the Medagliere returned to jme greatly diminished. Pius VII resumed the sk of collecting, and the department was continually I'reased, the Ranchi collection being recently added 901 ) at t he expense of 64,000 lire (812,800) . After e discarding of valuable duplicates, for which ,000 lire was obtained, the Medagliere stands again the grand total of 70,000 pieces. Among its most lebrated exhibits are the uninjured as grave and e oldest papal coins. The custodian Serafini has

"ently issued the first volume of the scientific de-

•iption of this collection.

The objects of pagan art in gold, silver, amber, etc., lich came to the Holj' See with the Museo Carpegna, p carved stones, enamels, glasses, carved ivories, urines, etc., and the small bronze busts and tablets ■re accommodated by Pius VI in magnificent ca.ses the end of the long manuscript gallery at the en- mce to the museum. Such wa.s the foundation of

Pagan Museum, which to-day stands under the

•ect ion of Conimendat ore Nogara, anfl t o which other melia were later added. The department is sub- linate to the prefecture of the library. Connected th this department (although not in the same 11) is the collection of ancient pagan frescoes begun Pius VII when he purchased the Aldobrandini ilarriage". I'nder Gregory XVI and Pius IX fur- T frescoes, obtained from the walls of the old iman houses, were added. The hall in which the.se ■ces are exhibited was painted by Guido Reni. side them are the brick stamps (classified and be- eathed by Marini), a kind of factory mark ini- \ssed by the ancients on the bricks, which is of the

hest importance for the chronology of classical

ildings. Here were al.so the 33 majolica plates ich Leo XIII had conveyed from Castel Gandolfo Rome, but which are now in the Appartamento rgia. Concerning the Aldobrandini "Marriage"


and analogous objects Nogara has published an edition de luxe.

The hall for the Latin papyrus documents, richly fitted with costly marbles, was magnificently painted by Raphael Mengs. Here are collected more docu- ments belonging to the period 444 to 854 than are contained in any other collection in the world. The collection was begun by Paul V, continued by Clement XII and Benedict XIV, while the costly decorations were completed by Pius VII. In each of the twenty- four receptacles in the walls are from one to three papyrus fragments. Besides the monumental work of Gaetano Marinis, "Papyri diplomatici", Marucchi has recently treated the "Monumenta papyracea latina" (see above). The Cabinet of Drawings and Engravings contains originals by Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Mantegna, and many other woodcuts and steel engravings, extending back to the time of Albrecht Diirer. This is a small but excellent collec- tion. In the former Chapel of Pius V were on-ie preserved the addresses received by Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius X from all the countries of the world. Begun in 1867, the collection was recently transferred to the Casino di Pio IV in the Vatican Gardens when this hall had to be used for the special purposes of the library, but still remains under the direction of the prefect of the library. In similar manner the pre- RaphaeUte paintings of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and a number of Byzantine tablets, which were accommodated in special halls of the hbrary, have been transferred to the picture-gallery.

(9) History of the Library. — Like every great church, that of Rome found it necessary from the be- ginning to form a collection of archival materials and books. This was of the greatest importance for the transaction of business, for the scientific pursuit of the- ology, for reference etc. Owing to the frequent change of the Curial headquarters, the wars and sieges of Rome, and numerous other vicissitudes, the collect ions of this kind have suffered great damage. The fate of the old papal library has been the subject of many inquiries, of which the most scholarly is that of de Rossi (referred to above) and the most extensive that of Ehrle ("Die Frangipani und der Untergang des Archivs und der Bibliothek der Piipste am Anfang des 13. Jahrhunderts" in "Melanges offerts a M. Emile Chatelain . . . par ses ^'l^ves et ses amis 15 avril 1910", Paris, 1910). The following may be also consulted: Zanelli, "La Biblioteca Vaticana della sua origine fino al presente" (Rome, 1857), and Fau- con, " La Librairie des Rapes d'Avignon, sa formation, sa composition, ses catalogues (131(5-1420) " (Paris, 1887). P'or the new acquisitions made down to the present day the only reliable source is Carini, "La Biblioteca Vaticana propriety, della Santa Sede Memoria Storica" (Rome, 1892). (Cf. Crispo Mon- cada, "La Biblioteca Vaticana e Monsignor Isidore Carini", Palermo, 1895.) What were the book treasures of the Holy See at the end of the thirteenth century, whence they came, how a new hbrary was formed at Avignon, and how this hbrary attained its greatest extent under Clement VI, may be learned from the above works, as may also the fate of these collections.

Martin V restored the seat of the Curia to Rome, and, both by exercising the right of spoil (see Ju.s Spoli) and also by |)urcha.ses, laid the foimdation of a library, which was extended and enriched by Eugene IV. Under the latter pontiff the library contained 340 manuscripts, of which traces are still found in the " Fondo antico Vaticano ". But the great humanist pope, Nicholas V (1447-55), was the true founder of the Vaticana, which may be regarded as the fourth p.apal libr.ary. This pontiff acquired the remains of the imperial library of Constantinople which had been scattered by the Turks, and was able to bequeath at this death 824 codices, of which a large