The Basilica Archives

Well before the birth of the Vatican Chapter, the care of Saint Peter’s Basilica was entrusted to the monks of four nearby monasteries (Santi Giovanni e Paolo, San Stefano Maggiore, San Martino, Santo Stefano Minore). The documents preserved by the monks of San Martino and Santo Stefano Maggiore constitute the original nucleus of the documentary heritage of the Chapter of Saint Peter, dating back to the ninth century.

In the course of its almost thousand-year history, the Chapter of Saint Peter has continued to produce, collect and preserve a large amount of documentation. In addition to numerous pontifical and imperial privileges, the Archive has preserved patrimonial and administrative papers useful for reconstructing the institutional events of the Chapter, as well as recording all the liturgical activity carried out in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

For centuries the Chapter Archive was housed inside the Basilica, although it underwent several relocations. At the end of the eighteenth century finally found a place in the new Palazzo della Canonica, built for the canons at the behest of Pope Pius VI. At the time, the Archive was not yet open to scholars: eventual requests were fulfilled by temporarily transferring the documents to the Vatican Apostolic Library. In 1940, in order to facilitate public consultation of the documents and to ensure their better preservation, the canons of Saint Peter’s had a large part of the documents of predominant historical interest transferred from their Archive to the Vatican Library, while the papers of predominant juridical-administrative interest were kept with them. In the collection deposited in the Vatican Apostolic Library, consisting of 100 cabinets (of which a part can be consulted freely at https://digi.vatlib.it/mss/Arch.Cap.S.Pietro), entire series and even individual archival units were brought together at different times, in direct dialogue with the documents that remained in the Archive's original location.

Among the many documents still preserved in the Chapter Archive, gathered in 33 wooden cabinets dating from 1782 (4 metres high, corresponding to 1450 linear metres, for a total of 11,091 archival units), the collection of the diaries of the Basilica from 1602 to 1935, which recount in detail the activities carried out in Saint Peter’s over the last four centuries, is of particular importance, along with the Status Animarum series of the parish of Saint Peter’s from 1547 to 1926; and the series of the Branch Churches of the Vatican Basilica from 1393 to 1958 (the last year of the pontificate of Pius XII that can be consulted). The paper collections have recently been supplemented by the digitization of part of the documentation now in the Vatican Library (around 600 DVDs).

In addition to the Chapter's collection, the Archive also preserves that of the Venerable Julian Chapel, consisting of 4091 amanuensis and printed musical scores from the end of the eighteenth century to 1979. 

Admission procedures

Access to the Archive is subject to authorization by the Cardinal Archpriest of the Chapter of Saint Peter and the canon responsible for the Chapter Archives. The request may be presented by writing to archiviostorico@capitolosp.va, accompanying the consultation request with a brief curriculum vitae, the subject of study, and contact details.

Once permission has been granted, scholars agree on the days of attendance with the staff of the Archive, who can be contacted via:

Tel. 06.69884556

E-mail archiviostorico@capitolosp.va

Written and read by Simona Turriziani 

The General Historical Archive of Saint Peter in the Vatican preserves the historical memory of the construction, decoration and maintenance of the Vatican Basilica from the early 1500s up to the present day, and thus also conserves the history of the institution responsible for this undertaking, the Fabric of Saint Peter in the Vatican.

Officially instituted on 13 January 1579, the Archive has had several locations over the centuries. The current one was inaugurated in 1984 by Saint John Paul II, and occupies the two octagonal rooms that gravitate around the dome of the Chapel of the Madonna of the Column, in the left transept of Saint Peter's Basilica. In these rooms, the Archive has achieved an excellent arrangement of its material and a proper appreciation of its historical value, enriched by an artistic collection of considerable importance. Even its location, within the very place it describes and narrates, expresses the link with the activity of conservation and maintenance of the Vatican Basilica still performed by the Fabric of Saint Peter. From this point of view, the Archives provide an indispensable contribution to the Technical Office of the Fabric, but also and more generally to the history of art, architecture and economics, making it a valuable and significant source for historiographic perspectives in various fields.

Opened to scholars between 1880 and 1881, during the course of the twentieth century the Archive was shaped by the figure of Cipriano Cipriani, an Olivetan Benedictine monk, who from 1960 to 1982 was in charge of the analytical inventory of the entire documentary complex, producing, in addition to the classic tools, a paper index of about 15,000 cards that still remains the main research tool for scholars today.

The documentary complex, composed of over 10,000 units including codices, registers, folders and cassettes, is stored in one hundred and twenty cabinets and is approximately 2,000 linear metres long.

There are six preserved archival fonds: the main one pertaining to the Fabric of Saint Peter (from the early 1500s to the present day); that of the Archconfraternity of the Blessed Sacrament (an association created in 1540 for the purpose of guarding and venerating the Blessed Sacrament of the Vatican Basilica, still active today); the collection of the “Della Piazza” family (bankers and merchants from Siena, from the second half of the 1400s to the early 1500s) the “Quarantotti” collection (custodians of the Fabric of Saint Peter from the last years of the 1600s until 1765); the collection of the Galli building company (active in Rome from the end of the 1700s until 1859), and finally the “Margherita Accossato e Andrea Manto” collection, consisting of drawings and plans by architect Carlo Marchionni for the new Sacristy of Saint Peter's Basilica (1776-1786).

The Historic Archive of the Fabric is therefore the main source for the study of Saint Peter’s Basilica, from the sixteenth century up to the present, but is also considered an important source for the study of western history of the modern and contemporary age.

Admission procedures

Access to the Archive is subject to authorization by the Cardinal Archpriest of the Chapter of Saint Peter, to whom a request for admission to consult the archive may be presented, including a brief curriculum vitae, specifying the subject of study, and contact details.

Once permission has been granted, scholars agree on the days of attendance with the staff of the Archive via telephone or email.

Opening hours and days

The Historic Archive of the Fabric of Saint Peter is open from 15 September to 15 July.

The study hall is accessible from Monday to Friday from 8.30 to 12.30. Once authorization has been granted, scholars may agree on the days of attendance with the staff of the Archive, who can be contacted via:

Tel. 06.69885470

E-mail archiviofsp@fsp.va