Vatican Apostolic Library

The Library gives its holdings as approximately 180,000 manuscripts and archival documents, around 2,000,000 printed books, about 8,300 incunabula, approximately 300,000 coins and medals, over 100,000 graphic works of prints, drawings and engraved plates, and more than 150,000 photographs. It describes itself as specialising in philological and historical disciplines and, more broadly, in theological, legal and scientific fields, and as dedicated to scholarly research on the direct study of manuscripts, printed books, coins and medals, prints, and graphic and cartographic materials. By papal decree, in the Library's own words, it is open to qualified scholars and researchers, regardless of religion, origin, or cultural background.