The archive charges a flat fee of 8 euros to scan any archival item. Furthermore, photocopies of archival material, digital or print, are extremely expensive. While unsurprising considering the nature of the material, the ASV also does not allow consultation of more than 5 archival items per day (3 in the morning and 2 more in the afternoon). First, you cannot take photos in the Secret Archive. Dress clothes are required, and I personally wore a blazer, although it is not specifically mandated.īe prepared for several barriers to effective archival research when working at the Vatican Secret Archives. Additionally, while it is always nice to dress professionally while conducting archival research, there is an actual dress code for researchers in the Secret Archives and its subsidiaries. The ASV does not send you your research card in the mail! You must first go to the archive to get the card, and subsequent visits pass much more smoothly. The approval process for access for an ASV card takes less than a week, and in my experience, was handled and approved on the same day.Īfter your research plan and topic have been approved, the ASV will prepare your card for pickup from the archival reception counter. Finally, an affiliation with a university and a letter of introduction are also both required. Blouin’s Vatican Archives: An Inventory and Guide to Historical Documents of the Holy See as a supplement to the application process. The application itself contains a Collection Index by which you can identify the desired collection, however, for those not confident in their Italian, navigating it will perhaps be difficult. Before filling out the application, the researcher must have a detailed research plan-what holdings one plans to consult and the length and dates of the planned visit to the archive must be known before approval is granted. Before visiting the archive, one must first fill out an application online. Of all the archives I have personally visited, accessing the Vatican Secret Archives is certainly the most complicated. ![]() The ASV overlooks the adjacent courtyard, the Cortile della Bibliotecha sitting next to the Sistine Salon. After the first visit, it is a much less stressful experience.Īfter you pass through security, head up the Via Sant’Anna into the Belvedere Courtyard, then take a right. Do not expect the guard to know English and be ready with a few prepared sentences or a piece of paper explaining the situation. You must collect it at the archive itself. Prepare yourself for an awkward first exchange, as you will not have your research card your first time entering the archive. Once at the gate, you must pass through multiple lines of security, beginning with the Swiss Guard watching the gate. As mentioned just above, the gate is the Porta Sant’Anna, which is the gate by which cars enter the Vatican. The ASV website does not say by which gate a researcher to the archive is supposed to enter. I found this method the most convenient, as the ticket allows access to both buses and the metro. A weekly public transit ticket (7 calendar days) costs 24 euros. There are three metro lines in Rome, with lines A and B intersecting at Roma Termini, Rome’s train station, and lines A and C connecting at stop San Giovanni. If you would like to take the metro, the nearest metro stop is the A-line stop, Ottaviano. ![]() A bus will get you the closest to the ASV, with buses 32, 81, and 590 dropping off at the Piazza del Risorgimento, the stop nearest the Porta Sant’Anna, the entry to Vatican City on its eastern side. Public transit is the most affordable way to get around Rome and to the Vatican unless staying near the archive. How to Get There (ASV) Cortile del Belvedere – 00120 Città del Vaticano I take each archive in turn, explaining how to get to both archives from the various modes of transit in Rome (bus, metro, walking), what is needed to access the archive, how to search for material, how to request that material, and other essential information needed for a successful research trip. This entry in the series will discuss how to navigate a trip to one of the most famous archives in the world: the Archivio Segreto Vaticano (ASV), or the Vatican Secret Archives.īelow, I will discuss what is needed to make an archival visit to the ASV productive. This post continues an ongoing special series of the Notre Dame Medieval Studies Research Blog called “Working in the Archives.” This series focuses on practical knowledge for accessing archives across Europe and North Africa, for making each archival visit a productive one, and for enhancing the quality of life of the researcher during the visit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |