Rome, 14 June – For the first and possibly the only time in history the Vatican will be displaying treasures from their famed secret archives in an exhibition in Rome. The exhibition ‘Lux in Arcadia’ is currently being held at the Capitoline Museums to mark the Vatican Secret Archive’s 400th anniversary of it’s creation by Pope Paul V.
The exhibition will display around 100 items including parchments, manuscripts, registers and codices from the eighth to the twentieth century. Highlights of the once in a lifetime exhibition include the procedings of the trial of Galileo Galilei, a letter by Marie Antoinette while she was imprisoned during the French Revolution and a letter from members of the English parliament to Pope Clement VII seeking an annulment for Henry VIII so he could marry Anne Boleyn.
The Vatican Secret Archive contains centuries of precious historical artifacts on 85 kilometers of shelving. The exhibit hopes to bring into the public light some of the riches that the Vatican posses in what may be the only time they leave the walls of the Vatican City. The exibit ‘Lux in Arcadia’ will run until September at the Capitoline Museums in Rome.
