Vatican
City is the smallest independent country in the world. Home
to the Pope, it serves as the spiritual and governmental
center of the Roman Catholic Church, the largest Christian
church in the world. Vatican City covers only 109 acres (44
hectares), but it exercises spiritual sway over millions of
Roman Catholics. Though Vatican City lies entirely within the
city of Rome it is foreign soil to Italian citizens. Vatican
City has been an independent country since the signing of the
Treaty of the Lateran in 1929.
Vatican Museums have a priceless collection of statuary, including the famous Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoon, and house large sections devoted to pagan and Christian inscriptions, to Egyptian and Etruscan antiquities, and to modern religious art. The many rooms and chapels within the museums are decorated by the works of such master artists as Fra Angelico, Pinturiccio, Raphael, Titian, and Leonardo da Vinci. Some of Michelangelo's greatest paintings decorate the ceiling and one large wall of the Sistine Chapel.
The Vatican Archive contains important religious and historical documents. Pope Paul V organized the archive in 1612, and itt houses such important documents as the original report on the trial of Galileo (1633), the request of the English Parliament for the annulment of the marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon (1530), and the concordat of Napoleon (1801). Pope Leo XIII opened the archive to scholars in 1881. Since then, many European nations have created historical institutes to search the archives for information on their particular countries.
The Vatican Library has one of the world's largest and most valuable collections of early manuscripts and books.
