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00:00A place of mystery and fascination.
00:27Twelve centuries of history, preserved for 400 years, conclaves, heresies, popes and
00:37emperors, crusades and excommunications, ciphered letters, manuscripts and codices coming from
00:47five continents, 650 archival fonts, 30,000 parchments, 85 linear kilometers of shelves
00:59and millions of documents.
01:03This is the Central Archive of the Holy See, the Vatican Secret Archives.
01:08Transcription by CastingWords
01:24The air of mystery created by the name alone
01:50has always provoked curiosity and inspired imaginative speculation.
01:56The archives lies inside Vatican City,
01:59occupying a vast area of the Apostolic Palace,
02:02extending along the northeast side of the Belvedere Courtyard
02:05and along the Pius IV wing that looks out onto the Vatican Gardens on one side
02:11and onto the Library Courtyard on the other.
02:20A place that testifies to its centuries-old role
02:25as custodian of the Church's historical memory.
02:34The name Secret Archives comes from the Latin word secretum,
02:38meaning separate or private, not open to everyone,
02:43but reserved for the use of the Supreme Pontiff and his collaborators.
02:47The Vatican Secret Archives was created to be the Pope's archives.
03:00The Pope exercises supreme and exclusive jurisdiction over the archives
03:06through the Cardinal Archivist,
03:09while everyday operations are the responsibility of the Prefect.
03:13There are over 600 fonds preserved in the Vatican Secret Archives,
03:231,200 years of history,
03:26from the 8th to the 20th century,
03:28extending over 85 linear kilometers of shelves,
03:32equivalent to the length of the Panama Canal.
03:34Pope Paul V began the archives in 1612,
03:44with the idea of uniting in a single place
03:47the documents that were then distributed in various locations,
03:51from the Vatican Library
03:53to the archive of the Apostolic Chamber
03:55and even in the Castel Sant'Angelo.
03:58This allowed easier access to documents that were necessary
04:06for the temporal and spiritual governance of the Church
04:09and guaranteed their preservation over time.
04:16To house all this documentation coming from different sources,
04:21between 1611 and 1614,
04:24three rooms were prepared on the Piano Nobile.
04:27The Mercury and Pegasus Room,
04:32where figurative exaltations of the qualities of the reigning pontiff
04:36are depicted on the ceiling in the form of eloquence and reason.
04:45The Room of the Musician Angels,
04:48that gets its name from the fresco
04:50depicting the loftiest of angelic choirs.
04:53And the Grand Room of Paul V's Triumph,
04:58that contains an iconographic representation
05:00of the universal supremacy wielded by the Roman pontiff,
05:05a concept close to the Borghese Pope's heart.
05:09A series of poplar and walnut cupboards
05:11are decorated with his family's heraldic devices.
05:14The frescoes adorning the walls of the rooms
05:22depict famous coronations of kings and emperors
05:26by the successors of Peter,
05:28as well as sovereigns of the main European dynasties
05:33in the act of donating their dominions to different popes.
05:36Among them, Otto I,
05:41consigning the famous Privilegium
05:44to Pope John XII,
05:46as painted by Giovanni Battista Calandra.
05:48Or Frederick II swearing an oath of loyalty
05:59to Honorius III and the Holy See
06:01in a fresco by Antonio Viviani.
06:04Since then, the collection of documents
06:13has never stopped growing,
06:15along with the need to create new spaces to house them.
06:25In 1660, Pope Alexander VII Kigi
06:29enlarged the rooms housing the archives
06:32to include those above the Piano Nobile
06:34alongside the tapestry gallery of the Vatican Museums.
06:39These are the Kigi rooms,
06:42which house the oldest nucleus
06:44of the Secretary of State Archives.
06:46This is the location of the so-called Room of Miscellaneia,
07:08which was arranged at the beginning of the 18th century
07:11under Clement XI,
07:13with 15 wall cupboards
07:15containing various documents,
07:17including the Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum,
07:22the oldest formulary of the Pontifical Chancellery
07:26dating back to the 8th and 9th centuries,
07:29and the volume containing the controversial trial
07:31of Galileo Galilei.
07:33Towards the end of the 18th century,
07:51when Rome was occupied by French troops,
07:54the documents remaining in Castel Sant'Angelo
07:57were transferred to the archive.
07:59They had been kept there for over four centuries,
08:04originally organized in different colored bags
08:06and later in a series of large cupboards.
08:10In a single day, in May 1798,
08:14the prefect, Gaetano Marini,
08:17completed the operation using the corridor,
08:19or passetto di borgo,
08:21that links the castle with the Vatican.
08:23Unfortunately, nothing could stop
08:34another more tragic transfer a few years later.
08:38In 1810, Napoleon ordered
08:40that the entire people archive
08:42be brought to Paris.
08:45It was only between 1815 and 1817
08:49that the surviving documents
08:51were returned to Rome.
08:53Many had been damaged or lost.
09:08In 1881, Pope Leo XIII
09:11made the historic decision
09:13to open the doors of the papal archives
09:15to scholars of all nations and religions.
09:19Since then, access to the Vatican's secret archives
09:24has been free of charge
09:26and open to qualified researchers
09:28engaged in historical studies.
09:33Presently, the Vatican's secret archives
09:36welcomes over 1,200 scholars
09:39from around 60 countries every year.
09:42The continual transfer of documentation
09:51from the various dicasteries
09:53of the Roman Curia
09:54during the 20th century
09:56meant that more suitable storage space
09:59had to be found.
10:03A two-story reinforced concrete bunker
10:07was built beneath the courtyard
10:08of the pinecone in the Vatican Museums.
10:13It was begun under the pontificate
10:15of Paul VI
10:16and inaugurated by John Paul II in 1980.
10:21It constitutes the largest storage area
10:23of the archives,
10:24extending 31,000 cubic meters
10:27with 43,000 linear meters of shelving.
10:30Another area, called the Soffitoni,
10:37was created by Pope Pius XII in 1950
10:41above the gallery of the maps
10:43in the Vatican Museums.
10:44This consists of 13,000 linear meters
11:01of metal shelving distributed over two floors
11:05overlooking the Belvedere courtyard.
11:07The new locations include two rooms
11:24where the temperature and relative humidity
11:26is kept constant.
11:28This is where the oldest
11:29and most valuable parchment items are kept,
11:32many of them with gold seals.
11:34New areas have also been created for scholars.
11:46Researchers have four reading rooms
11:49at their disposal,
11:50all complete with connections
11:51for personal computers.
11:53The Leo XIII, or Index Room,
12:00is the starting point for researches.
12:04Here they can consult the Scedario Garampi,
12:09the first research instrument
12:11perfected by the Vatican Secret Archives
12:13when it opened to the public in 1881
12:16and made available to scholars
12:18in the early 20th century.
12:20One hundred and twenty-five volumes
12:24divided according to subject
12:26contained in nearly 800,000 handwritten cards
12:30compiled under the direction
12:32of Giuseppe Garampi,
12:34Prefect of the Archives
12:35from 1751 to 1772.
12:38The Pius XI reading room
12:46where original documents
12:48can be requested and consulted.
12:59Bundles, registers, boxes, and parchments
13:02are distributed by the staff
13:04to scholars who then face
13:06the challenging task
13:07of deciphering often
13:09hard-to-read handwriting.
13:21Finally, the sixth is the fifth rooms,
13:25two areas for consulting archival indexes,
13:28the many collections of historical works,
13:30and for viewing digital reproductions of documents.
13:41The Vatican Secret Archives
13:43is a physical place
13:45and as such is subject
13:46to the changes of time
13:48and the needs of the moment.
13:50But it's also a symbolic place
13:52in terms of what it is
13:53and what it does.
13:54walking through the corridors
13:59of these vast stacks
14:01is like going on a journey
14:03through time and space,
14:05a journey that takes you
14:06inside the history of the Church
14:08and the world.
14:18The priceless collection
14:20of the Vatican registers
14:21is a principal source
14:23for the history of Europe.
14:25Dating mainly to the 13th and 14th centuries,
14:28it contains officially registered
14:30pontifical correspondence
14:32produced by the chancellery,
14:34the apostolic chamber,
14:36papal secretaries,
14:37and the apostolic secretariat.
14:44Over 7,000 registers
14:46of supplications
14:47assemble the petitions
14:49presented to the Pope
14:50from the 14th to the 19th century,
14:53while the Fonds
14:54of the Congregation of Rites
14:56preserve the processes
14:58of beatification
14:59and canonization.
15:07Situated in the world's
15:09smallest state,
15:10the Holy See
15:11is undoubtedly the oldest
15:13of all human institutions
15:14to have maintained relations
15:16with numerous nations
15:17of the past and present.
15:20It still has the greatest number
15:22of diplomatic representatives
15:23in the world
15:24after the United States.
15:29A journey through time,
15:31but also through space.
15:34Passing through the corridors
15:35of the archives
15:36with their almost 100 Fonds
15:38dedicated to pontifical diplomacy
15:40in the world
15:41is like travelling across
15:43all five continents.
15:45a with vast dangerous
16:01in thousands of thousands
16:03and hundreds of thousands
16:03of North Harrison
16:04defend here,
16:04and beyond the spaghetti
16:05all- avatar!
16:07The Tahiti
16:07believes that all
16:09are jemand
16:09to non- Zealand
16:12as well.
16:13In the end,
16:14there is the greatest
16:14But the documents kept in the Vatican secret archives also demonstrate the role played
16:38by the Holy See at particular moments in history.
16:43Like during the Second World War.
16:54The archive of the Vatican Information Office for Prisoners of War, created by Pope Pius
17:00XII, is an example of the care and assistance offered to prisoners and their families.
17:13Other documents demonstrate the Church's commitment to renewal over the centuries, facing important
17:21theological and ecclesial problems during discussions at the great council assemblies, as revealed
17:28by the archives.
17:31The Council of Trent, with its 147 elements, containing the original bulls convening the
17:37council and other precious documents.
17:44The first Vatican Council, which was brusquely interrupted when Italian troops marched into
17:49Rome on September 20th, 1870.
17:59And the Second Vatican Council, with over 2,000 files of documentation produced between 1959
18:06and 1965.
18:08the Vatican Secret Archives.
18:17But the Vatican Secret Archives also contain a huge collection of records of families and
18:23individuals donated or bequeathed by their legitimate owners from the 19th century on.
18:34One of the most unique aspects of the fonds preserved in the Vatican Secret Archives is the variety
18:40and nature of materials used for the documents.
19:00There are printed books and precious manuscripts, like that containing the works of 16th century
19:06Persian poet, Mukhtasam Ikasani, complete with beautiful floral motifs.
19:15There are ancient and priceless parchments, like the exceptional rolls that document the
19:21trials of the Knights Templar.
19:24The most impressive is nearly 60 meters long and is made of 90 parchments sewn together.
19:31The interrogation of 231 French Templar Knights between 1309 and 1311 is transcribed upon it.
19:44The famous document of Chinon is on the same theme, it allowed the Papal Commissars to accept appeals for forgiveness from the Grand Master and other Templar leaders and to pardon their sins.
19:56There is an interesting story behind the discovery of one of the most significant documents kept in the Vatican Secret Archives, made in a place associated with the name of the longest reigning Pope after Peter.
20:17Pius IX was the first Pope to create a personal archive, separate from that of the Secretariat of State.
20:32Following the death of the Pope, this archive was transferred to the Vatican Secret Archives and situated right here where we are standing.
20:40This was a closed, sealed off area to which only the Pope had the keys.
20:47Obviously, he could delegate to the prefect of the Vatican Archives to conduct research here.
20:53Over the years, precisely because it was a reserved area, this space housed documents that were not produced under the Pontificate of Pius IX.
21:05It was here in 1940, for example, that the prefect of the time discovered the records of the Inquisition's trial against Giordano Bruno.
21:16These documents had been returned to the Vatican Archives from Paris and were placed here towards the end of the 19th century.
21:28Other important documents were rediscovered here before 1940 as well.
21:38In 1926, the prefect, Monsignor Angelo Marcati, received the key from the Pope and came here to research some documents at his request.
21:49While he was moving this high-backed chair, he heard suspicious noises coming from its backrest and realised it contained a secret compartment.
22:02He opened it and made a truly surprising discovery.
22:08Inside the chair was a large document, complete with 85 seals.
22:18Reading it, Monsignor Marcati realised that it was the letter sent by the English Lords to Clement VII, urging the Pope to annul the marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon.
22:33In the summer of 1530, the King's marriage trial was blocked in Rome.
22:40He needed to put pressure on the Pope and so decided to call a number of lords and high-ranking courtiers, many of them ecclesiastics, to court.
22:52He ordered those who were not able to come personally, to send their signet rings instead.
22:59Those who responded, under great pressure from Henry VIII, who knew how to exact obedience, put their seals to this letter.
23:08But the King still wasn't satisfied.
23:12He wanted those who were absent to seal the document as well.
23:16So he sent his officials all over England to their homes, until they had done what he wanted.
23:23By July the 13th, 1530, the document was ready to be sent.
23:32Among those who had signed and sealed it were two archbishops, four bishops and 22 abbots of the greatest abbeys in the kingdom.
23:44Clement VII must have been quite taken aback when he saw this document.
23:49The vast majority of the British hierarchy had signed this supplicating and threatening letter, which asked the Pope to decide in favour of the King.
23:59It is no coincidence that this letter has been called the most impressive document ever produced in Tudor, England.
24:14Here is another exceptional item.
24:17This letter, dated May 21st, 1887, was sent by the head of the North American Ojibwe Christian Community of Grassy Lake to Pope Leo XIII.
24:28The message has been written on two very fragile pieces of birch bark, skillfully connected to form two pages.
24:35The letter is a rare example of the Ojibwe Indian native language, transcribed into characters of the Latin alphabet.
24:45It addresses the Pope as the Great Master of Prayer, is dated in the month of Flowers, May, and is from where the tall grass grows, Grassy Lake, in Canada.
24:58Then, there's this over one metre long document made of two strips of plant paper.
25:07It's an imperious message addressed to Pope Innocent IV from Goyuk, the Emperor of the Mongols and nephew of Genghis Khan, and sent via a Franciscan friar, Giovanni Dapian del Carpine.
25:23The document is written in Persian with an introduction in Turkish.
25:28The seal is in Mongolian characters and is the second oldest artifact in the Mongolian language.
25:36In his message, Goyuk orders the Pope and all Western sovereigns to come and offer us service and homage.
25:46Only then will we recognise your submission.
25:53Equally precious is this letter in Chinese characters, written in this case on a metre long piece of silk, and sent to Pope Innocent X by the Chinese Empress Wang, who converted to Christianity and took the baptismal name of Helen.
26:12In the letter, the Empress professes her Catholic faith and asks the Pope to pray for the conversion of the Emperor Yongli and for a Ming victory over the Machu invaders.
26:27Innocent X died and the letter, carefully rolled up and protected inside a bamboo tube decorated with imperial Chinese dragon symbols, was delivered to the new Pope, Alexander VII, in 1655, when the Empress herself was already dead.
26:48There are also letters written by individuals who have left their indelible mark on the world of art and culture.
27:03Like the one sent by Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1550 to Monsignor Christophe Rospiriti, Bishop of Cesena and future Patriarch of Jerusalem, regarding the financial difficulties the artist was facing in rebuilding St. Peter's Basilica, after work was interrupted by the death of Pope Paul III.
27:24At that time the Cardinals were meeting in Conclave in the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo had painted his fresco of the Last Judgment ten years earlier.
27:33Here are other significant letters from people whose characters or actions marked the events and manners of the time.
27:51Like Lucrezia Borgia, the thirteen-year-old daughter of Pope Alexander VI, in 1494 she wrote to her father from Pesaro, where she had just been married to Giovanni Sforza, begging him to leave Rome and escape the plots of his enemies, allies of the French King, Charles VIII.
28:14Or like the brief and moving New Year's greeting card, sent in January 1793 by Marie Antoinette, the deposed Queen of France, to her brother-in-law, Louis of Provence, from her tower prison in Paris, as she awaited news of the decapitation of her husband, Louis XVI.
28:40Then there are those more controversial documents that have caused debate over the centuries.
29:10This is the so-called original codex of the Galileo-Galilei trial.
29:24Actually, it is a composite volume, a collection of various files of different periods that regard the scientists from Pisa and the procedures he faced at the Holy Office, or Inquisition, between 1616, when the Dominicans in Florence first accused him.
29:43So, the very first weak investigation against him, and then the real trial, from 1632 to 1633, which ended with Galileo recanting.
29:56This volume has an interesting history of travel.
30:01In 1810, when Rome was occupied by the troops of Napoleon, it was taken from the archives of the Holy Office and sent to the emperor in person because he wanted to see it.
30:14Napoleon held these papers in his hands and understanding their importance in the interests of France and against Rome, so to speak.
30:24He gave them to his court librarian.
30:27But the well-known historical events ensued including the overthrow of the emperor, Napoleon's fall from power in 1814, and the succession of the Bourbon king, Louis XVIII.
30:41This volume only returned to the Vatican in 1834.
30:46It was placed in one of the cupboards in this room and has been preserved here ever since.
30:54What are the contents of this volume?
30:57It contains the original acts from 1616 to 1633 and afterwards concerning the life and trial of Galileo Galilei before the Roman Inquisition.
31:10Right here, in front of us, on these pages, are the declarations of Galileo, the transcripts of his interrogation by the inquisitors, in which he defends himself against the accusations of heresy and for sustaining various theories contrary to the scriptures in his dialogue.
31:30In short, we have the whole court case that concluded with Galileo recanting on his knees, lighted candle in his left hand, as prescribed in the Church of the Minerva in 1633.
31:55From this unique manuscript of a trial by the Inquisition against a scientist that ended with him denying his discoveries, we move on to this other interesting and outstanding document.
32:10An original register of Pope Leo X that contains two so-called papal bulls, two historically important apostolic letters regarding another very famous personality.
32:25Although there is no way to compare the two, Galileo and Martin Luther, this register contains the threat of excommunication against Luther expressed in the bull, Exurge Domine, of July 1520.
32:41In it, the Pope formally condemns Luther's 41 theses affixed to the castle of Wittenberg as heretical and gives him 60 days to change his mind and to apologize for challenging Rome and the Pope, or face excommunication.
32:58Obviously, the bull registered here was sent in the original, complete with papal seal to Martin Luther in person.
33:07In response, and in contempt of Rome and the Pope, he is recorded as saying,
33:13I desire neither recriminations nor condemnations nor the honours of Rome.
33:22And he burnt the document in Wittenberg in 1520.
33:28Time passed and the 60 days were up.
33:32Luther went ahead as we know, convinced that he was in the right and that Rome was completely in the wrong.
33:44A few pages further on in this volume here in front of us, the Pope registered the bull of January 1521, in which he formally condemns Luther as a heretic,
33:55Decep Romanum Pontificem, Decep Romanum Pontificem.
34:02Here we have a good Catholic who submits with great suffering and in his old age to the church, Galileo.
34:10Here we have an Augustinian friar who refused to submit to the Pope and had to suffer excommunication with all it entailed.
34:20Standing out among the many precious and sizeable documents kept in the Vatican Secret Archives
34:29is that concerning the ratification of the abdication of Queen Christina of Sweden, who converted to Catholicism in 1654.
34:39This document is particularly interesting because of the attached seals of the Swedish parliamentary nobles
34:48who had to confirm her request to abdicate the throne.
35:07There is an entertaining anecdote in this regard.
35:10When Christina converted and came to Rome in December 1655, she was housed as a guest for a few days in the Meridian Room,
35:19which is located inside the Tower of the Winds, one of the most famous places in the Vatican.
35:25So as not to offend Queen Christina, who came from Sweden in the extreme north of Europe,
35:33Pope Alexander VII ordered that the phrase
35:36ab aquilone pandetur omne malum,
35:40every evil comes from the north,
35:42be erased from one of the walls of the Rome.
35:45The Meridian Room, which became the Queen's apartment, was originally a covered terrace
36:03used for making astronomical and meteorological observations.
36:08The Pontifical Cosmographer, Ignazio Dante, had installed an anemoscope on the roof,
36:16an instrument he had designed to identify the principal seasonal winds.
36:21In a north-south axis on the floor lay a meridian line in white marble
36:38on which could be calculated the height of the sun at noon throughout the year.
36:42The sun's rays penetrated the room, which heavy drapes kept dark,
36:51through a small hole in the south wall.
36:57By observing the incidence of the sun's ray on the meridian,
37:01it was possible to reform the calendar, as requested by Pope Gregory XIII,
37:06by cancelling 10 days in October 1582 from the 5th to the 14th.
37:16Thus they corrected the misalignment between the solar year and the civil and church year.
37:23All these documents and many others can be consulted by scholars who request them.
37:41Although that isn't the case for all documents.
37:46There's a span of time known as the closed period
37:49that includes documentation that is not yet available to researchers.
37:56The reigning Pope decides when to open this closed period
38:00and to place the documents relating to the entire papacy of one of his predecessors
38:05at the disposal of scholars.
38:09While closed to researchers, this documentation is open to the archivists,
38:14who dedicate themselves daily to arranging and reorganizing this material
38:18in anticipation of a papal decision to open them for consultation.
38:23political dossier and the research and the research was created,
38:26at the end of the film,
38:29the historic film, the stage of the organization
38:32is known as the host of Europeanerca.
38:34The event is less than a report of the art.
38:36If we listen to the other female authors,
38:37the audiobook is not預 costing the distinction.
38:38It is not a good feeling of triangles
38:39or not a real animal.
38:41Any Indigenous solutions
38:42and many of the characters of the world
38:43have claimed the human beings
38:44in the past.
38:45They are spearsly in the past.
38:46They are being trained for interpreters
38:47The animals that coincident and the aspect
38:48of the Shaun of thewright
38:49of the world
38:50have to be a private volunteer.
38:51the varied and complex work of the archivists.
38:55The challenge to such an important archive,
38:58both historically as well as in terms of the quantity of documents
39:02dating from the 8th to the 20th centuries,
39:05involves the conservation of this precious patrimony.
39:09The most effective and long-term way
39:12is by turning to new technologies and state-of-the-art techniques.
39:17Delicate interventions in this field must take into consideration
39:21the varying characteristics of the materials,
39:24which is why they are entrusted to expert restorers
39:27who apply techniques aimed at guaranteeing their survival over time.
39:32The Conservation, Restoration and Binding Laboratory
39:48is dedicated to preserving documents from chemically deteriorating agents
39:53using specific deacidification procedures
39:57that involve immersing the paper in a calcium, saline or magnesium solution
40:03with an alcohol or water-based solvent
40:06that slows the corrosive process in the paper,
40:09often caused by metal-based inks.
40:12After treatment, the documents are placed on special frames to dry.
40:30The ability and experience of expert restorers guarantees the safety
40:42of precious documents and manuscripts,
40:45like the 16th century codex containing the oaths
40:49taken by the judges of the Holy Roman Rota.
40:52The volume opens with a lovely miniature
40:57depicting the judges kneeling in a circle before their chairs,
41:01praying to the Holy Spirit,
41:03symbolized by the dove
41:05and traditionally invoked when the tribunal begins its work.
41:09Today, the tribunal functions like an appeals court
41:19and deals with marriage annulments, among other things.
41:24Its origins go back to the Middle Ages
41:27when Pope Innocent III gave his chaplains the power to oversee court cases.
41:39The laboratory also restores to their original condition
41:42parchment documents
41:44whose natural shape and size have become distorted.
41:50Depending on the state of preservation,
41:52restorers apply a humidification process
41:56that gives the parchment the necessary elasticity
41:59to face a flattening procedure
42:01that's done using controlled suction and specific appliances.
42:09in some cases,
42:12when the condition of the parchment allows it,
42:15the stretching operation involves
42:17keeping the subject under slight tension.
42:25In order to consolidate more fragile paper supports,
42:28restorers apply thin sheets of vegetable fibre
42:32that still allow the text to be read.
42:39according to the
42:58Manuscripts are sometimes attacked by parchment or paper-eating insects
43:04that leave deep tunnels through the pages.
43:06These items receive a special anoxic treatment.
43:17The volume is inserted into a container which uses a particular mechanism
43:21to extract the oxygen and replace it with nitrogen which asphyxiates the insects.
43:36Apart from the regular restoration work, there's a special department that makes acid-free cardboard cases.
43:45Over 50,000 of them have been produced so far.
43:54The seal restoration at Conservation Laboratory is very important.
43:58It protects hundreds of thousands of seals made out of wax, sealing wax, paper and papered seals,
44:07golden and leaden bulla that are attached to documents kept in the Vatican Secret Archives.
44:16From earliest times, the purpose of these rare objects in different shapes and colors
44:21and often beautifully decorated was to authenticate the documents to which they were attached.
44:28From the time it was set up in 1980, the laboratory has used state-of-the-art techniques
44:41to restore over 5,000 pendant or applied seals.
44:52Like many archives, the Vatican Secret Archives has its own school.
44:58The Vatican School of Paleography, Diplomatics and Archives Administration was created by Pope Leo XIII in 1884
45:08and is situated beside the Vatican Secret Archives in the Belvedere Courtyard.
45:14Over the years, it has trained hundreds of archivists and researchers in the field of historical disciplines,
45:19allowing them to study countless priceless sources first-hand.
45:26The school has its own 36-desk multimedia lecture room, with monitors connected directly to the professor's computer.
45:33A lesser-known and even surprising aspect of the Vatican Secret Archives is its collaborative work with the photographic and digital acquisition laboratory and IT department.
45:51The Vatican Secret Archives realized a long time ago the important contribution new technologies can make in protecting its documentary heritage and in assisting historical research.
46:05Which is why, in 2009, it began a process of digitalization by creating a new data center complete with server and storage systems and renovated its entire internal computer network.
46:20Data is imported automatically and is elaborated by means of a special server in order to be reproduced subsequently on a digital support.
46:35This has allowed for the progressive digital acquisition of documents, starting with the oldest and most valuable, resulting in a precious collection of millions of images.
46:55The main advantages of this kind of operation are greater protection of the archive's patrimony and easier consultation for scholars.
47:05The archives preserve the reflection of human activity.
47:12The nice thing about this place is how it allows you to give life to that which is no more.
47:18The work or the role of the archivist is to build a bridge between a past that needs to be understood and a future that needs to be planned.
47:26A great Italian sociologist wrote, we are what we were, or rather, we are what we remember we were.
47:37We are personified memories.
47:39I believe the work, the duty of the archivist, is to be dedicated to these memories.
47:46When Leo XIII opened the Vatican archives to researchers from all over the world, he said, the Church must not fear the truth.
47:53The archives are not mythological or legendary places hiding who knows what secrets.
48:00Racine said, there is no secret that time will not reveal.
48:05The task of the researchers who sit in our study rooms every day, consulting ancient manuscripts,
48:10is to demonstrate to this technological, speeded-up society that believes you can get all the answers at the touch of a button,
48:19that working in an archive requires commitment, patience, skill.
48:24It is fascinating work, but it is tough and complicated too.
48:32But the contribution of the Vatican's secret archives to culture is not limited to conservation, restoration and digitalization.
48:45Exploring these silent corridors, among thousands of volumes, documents, files and ledges,
48:52the true value of this vast documentary patrimony, both image and reflection of the Church's mission in history, can be understood.
49:07For four centuries, the Vatican's secret archives has guarded the documented traces of this millinery activity,
49:15aware of the universal value of culture and knowledge.
49:22It's here, in this place, which already has its own story to tell,
49:32that past and future meet and overlap in a dynamic synthesis that merges time and history.
49:52idea of what the truth do, to do with the capital interior,
49:55that Newification and blissful, can be seen in the Middle East.
49:59Togeännake, to the deixa Glassavía ahh.
50:03Kind of pronounce LectOOD gas, energy, food πουřile in the first warning status.
50:07The predominant mantle that Cheers for that moment..
50:10The purpose of being chosen to explore the wrap-up device...
50:14A blast-up sequence in those points.
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