Becoming a Vat Rat

On Friday, I made a journey to the Vatican Archives and Library. This experience is worth noting. I should first explain that I am doing research at the Vatican for a drawings exhibition on the Notre Dame painter and professor Luigi Gregori (1819-96). The exhibition comes out of a year-long project with his drawing collection held at the Snite Museum which will also be the host of the exhibit. Before Gregori started as a professor at Notre Dame, he was employed at the Vatican as a painter and art counselor for Pope Pius IX. I am hoping to find out more information about his life while at the Vatican.

Archives and Library is limited to researchers with basic credentials (an MA) and adequate research goals. This was not a problem as I had copies of my degree and a letter from the Snite explaining my research needs. However, the library and archives are not easy to physically access. There are no large signs proclaiming their presence. In fact they are on the very interior of Vatican city, not in Saint Peter’s but adjacent (see map). What I needed was a guide and I had a good one, Professor Ingrid Rowland.

Professor Coleman, my MA thesis advisor and the initiator of the Gregori project, had the forethought to contact Professor Rowland and ask if she would kindly escort me the Vatican on my first trip. Professor Rowland is an architectural historian who teaches one of Tim’s classes (she is the cat lady from a previous post). Turns out, she loves the Vatican library, goes there all the time, and wanted to visit the archives in order to find some lace from Malta.



So we set off on Friday via the line 62 bus that travels up the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and stops at the Porta Angelica or the main gate into Vatican city. To get to the gate, one has to push their way through large groups of tourists trying to take a “candid” shot of the exclusive country. Then, one has to get pass the Swiss army guards and if you don’t know what they dress like, it is ridiculous so here is a picture. There are three checkpoints with these guards. We passed through because Professor Rowland had her library pass and could explain that I was also there to use the library but had not received my proper badge.

What is really amazing about being in Vatican city is the calm. One goes from an utter chaos at the gates to a barely populated, walled fortress. Those walking around are equally quite: nuns, monks, priests, researchers. Something that also peaked my interest was a mention of the amenities including a post office, a pharmacy, and a grocery store! I plan to research these as much as anything else. I am hoping for special products like “Pope Pops” and “Heavenly Honey Clusters”.

The library and archives are separate entities. Which means I had to get two different passes. At each place there was a wait, document exchanges, waivers signed, and pictures taken. In the time span of a little over 2 hours I ended up with two photo ids which seems reasonable as they provide me with amazing access to some great research resources and who knows what else. “Vat Rat” is the endearing term Professor Rowland used for herself and other academics devoted to this illustrious place. I can only strive to be one of the rodents.