Founded in 1475, the Vatican Apostolic Library is the Holy See's library in Vatican City. Its enormous collection includes over 1.6 million printed books, 75,000 manuscripts, and 8,600 incunabula, making it a vital resource for scholars and researchers. The library preserves and provides access to a wide range of cultural heritage materials, actively digitizing its collections for global accessibility. While access to some materials is restricted, open reading rooms and other resources are avail

The Vatican Library’s Vice Prefect, Giacomo Cardinali, told La Repubblica that Muslim scholars were given a prayer room and access to rare Islamic texts, including ancient Korans. “We are a universal library,” he said, noting their Arabic, Jewish, Ethiopian, Chinese, and even rare Japanese collections. The library also holds hundreds of thousands of coins, medals, engravings, and prints. While the Vatican welcomes interfaith visitors, Islam’s holy city of Mecca remains strictly off-limits to non