88 years ago, on February 11, 1929, the Vatican became a sovereign state. The history of the independent Holy See dates back to the signing of the so-called Lateran Agreements - a set of documents that defined the rights, privileges and position of the Vatican in the Italian kingdom. However, this event had more of a formal meaning: for many centuries the papacy, especially without considering anyone, influenced the fate of the whole world.
The secret archive of the Vatican, which has been declassified in stages since the end of the 19th century, contains a huge collection of priceless manuscripts - evidence of the power of the Holy See.
The archive was separated from the Vatican library in 1610 under Pope Paul V and has since been the largest repository of secrets in the world. The total length of the shelves, divided into 650 departments, is 85 kilometers - more than 35 thousand books and documents.
According to some reports, the archive contains the largest collection of occult literature in the world. However, it is not the volumes about mystical rituals that are of interest, but historical documents covering 16 centuries of human history.
Page from the protocol of interrogation of Galileo Galilei with his signature, 1638.
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Suicide note by Marie Antoinette, written before her execution, 1793.
“Everything is here - from old Europe to Asia, from the discovery of America to World War II. No country escaped our attention,”says Sergio Pagano, curator of the archive.
The verdict of the Inquisition handed down to the astronomer Giordano Bruno, 1600.
Pope Clement VII received this letter from English peers informing him of the wedding of King Henry VII to Catherine of Aragon, 1530.
Report of the trial of the Templars, 231 readings on 60 meters of parchment, 1311.
In the library you can find manuscripts covering the most notorious processes of the Inquisition, documents left over from the time of the Crusades, manuscripts of famous thinkers and scientists.
Letter from Pope Pius XI to Adolf Hitler in response to his message, in which the Reich Chancellor of Germany expressed his hope for strengthening ties with the Vatican, 1934.
Gold bull of Pope Clement VII on the occasion of the coronation of the French monarch Charles V, 1364.
The breadth of ties between the Holy See and important persons from all over the world is striking. The archive, for example, contains a letter from the leader of the Canadian Ojibwa tribe in 1887, in which he thanks the Vatican for sending a missionary.
Purple parchment, embossed in gold, describing the gifts of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I to the Church, 950.
Letter from the Caliph of Morocco to Pope Gregory VII, in which he asks to appoint a new bishop, 1250.
The archive was opened for scientists in 1924. At first, the documents were declassified until the middle of the 19th century. Gradually, the volume of available materials increased, and now specialists have the opportunity to study documents relating to the period before 1939. A couple of years ago, information appeared that the Vatican intends to declassify its archives during the Second World War.
Fragment of the last letter of the French Queen Mary Stuart to Pope Sixtus V, 1586.