Pope to inaugurate exhibition cycle at Vatican Apostolic Library

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

The Vatican Apostolic Library announced on Sunday that the Pope will visit the Library on Monday, September 14, at 11 AM to inaugurate the exhibition cycle “AQVA. Catastrophe and Wonder.” 

The exhibition will be open to visitors on selected days of the week from September 25 through May 14, 2027.

Additional details on the exhibit curated by the Library's Vice-Prefect Father Giacomo Cardinali, Simona De Crescenzo, Francesca Giannetto, and Delio Proverbio, will be made available shortly.

'A  home where past and future can meet as friends'

The display brings together the works of three contemporary figures—French artist JR, American typographer Bill Moran, and the Italian chef Fulvio Pierangelini—in dialogue with the collections and spaces of the Pope’s Library, offering a reflection on water as both a threat and a resource.

Each of the three artistic collaborators reinterprets the Library’s historical collections through their own artistic practices.

The Librarian and Archivist of the Holy Roman Church, Monsignor Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, expressed his delight to welcome the Holy Father, noting the exhibition "are intended to foster dialogue between contemporary art and the Library’s centuries-old heritage.

"On several occasions," Monsignor Pagazzi recalled, "the Pope has emphasized fidelity to the past and fidelity to the future. The present – including the present of this exhibition – can become a home where past and future meet as friends." 

Ancient institution belonging to the Pope

The Vatican Apostolic Library, an ancient institution dedicated to preservation and research, belongs to the Pope and is closely connected to the governance and ministry of the Holy See.

Its vast collections, comprising manuscripts, archival materials, printed volumes, both ancient and modern, coins and medals, prints and drawings, as well as cartographic and photographic materials, have long been accessible to qualified scholars from around the world, regardless of race, religion, origin, or culture.

The Library specializes primarily in philological and historical disciplines and, retrospectively, also in theology, law, and the sciences.

With historic ties to the papal Scrinium, whose existence is documented as early as the 4th century, the Library began its modern history with Pope Nicholas V, who in the mid-15th century decided to open the papal book collections to scholars, and with Pope Sixtus IV, who provided a more stable organizational structure through the Bull Ad decorem militantis Ecclesiae of June 15, 1475.