VATICAN CITY – The Vatican Library, which houses one of the world’s most important collections of manuscripts, will reopen next Monday after a three-year $12 million renovation, much to the relief of academics around the world. Msgr. Cesare Pasini, the prefect of the library, said at a news conference on Monday that he was “happy to alleviate the anxiety” of the many scholars who had written to him since the library closed in July 2007, cutting off access to its 1.6 million volumes, including 75,000 manuscripts.
The renovations were both structural — involving the reinforcement of foundations and floors — and technological. Scholars granted access to the library, which was founded in 1451 and is open only to a select public, will be able to view some of the collections in the reading rooms by WiFi. Books are also being tagged with computer chips so they can be monitored (to ensure they stay in the library, where thefts have been known to occur).
Another modern addition will be a brick tower inside the library courtyard — once part of the great architect Donato Bramante’s Cortile del Belvedere — that will house an elevator and stairs connecting the bombproof bunker used to store manuscripts to the library’s photographic and restoration laboratories. “I got chills just hearing the name Bramante, and thinking I would do something near him,” said Gennaro Guala, an engineer with Italcementi, whose foundation was one of the main sponsors of the restoration.
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