The Vatican Library, one of the worlds largest, preserves a rich collection covering many fields of human knowledge (literature, history, art, law, astronomy, mathematics, natural sciences, medicine, liturgy, patristics...). Here are some numbers to give an idea of its size: 80,000 manuscripts and around 100,000 archival units; over 8,600 incunabula; tens of thousands of sixteenth-century editions and even more seventeenth-century ones; 1,600,000 printed books; 300,000 coins and medals; 150,000 prints, drawings and engravings; and over 150,000 photographs.
The tasks of ensuring the preservation of such a collection; of putting collection at the disposal of scholars, both in the reading rooms and in the form of reproductions; and of providing adequate services to a large and specialized readership, all depend on constant attention to necessary modifications, consolidations, enlargements and acquisitions. Accomplishing all this requires considerable resources.

Thanks

Numerous benefactors have generously and concretely contributed to the financing of the important and onerous building works in the Vatican Library, for the acquisition of photographic equipment, for the restoration of manuscripts and books, for cataloguing projects and other initiatives.

The Vatican Library wishes to thank explicitly the following persons and Institutions which, in this way, have allowed it to improve the service it offers to the world of culture and research:

• Alan Baron
• Pina Bartolini
• Âke Bonnier
• Michele Canzoneri
• Laura Cretara
• Simona Giampaoli e familiari
• Angelo Grilli
• Frank Hanna
• Warren Kirkendale
• Edwin Mok
• Bernadette Lane
• Pierino Monassi
• Chiara e Giovanna Montauti
• Mariastella Pellicioli Lorioli
• Paolo Portoghesi
• Francesco Parisi
• Marco Petreschi
• Bill Teuber
• Patrizio Turi
• Scott & Lannette Turicchi
• Luciana e Francesco Varisco
• Paola Veroi
• Bruna Volpi Fumagalli
• Ars Graphica
• Borri S.p.A.
• Dedanext S.r.l - Dedagroup S.p.A.
• Digita Vaticana Onlus
• Gladis Krieble Delmas Foundation
• Heydar Aliyev Foundation
• IAPS-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale, Roma
• INAF-Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica
• Jacob Wallenbergs Stiftelse
• Von Mallinckrodt Foundation
• NTT Data
• Panduit Corporation
• Piql AS
• Polonsky Foundation
• Samuel H. Kress Foundation
• Metis Systems
• Sanctuary of Culture Foundation
• SCG Chemicals
• Seret S.p.A.
• Stiftelsen Konung Gustav VI Adolfs fond för svensk kultur
• Stiftelsen Marcus och Amalia Wallenbergs Minnesfond
• Fritz Thyssen Stiftung
• Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg