Historical Artifacts, Documents and Autographs

Historical Documents and Artifacts

This section brings together original documents, autographs and objects connected with the history of the Church and of Europe.

You will find papal documents of Pius IX, Leo XIII and Gregory XVI, episcopal appointments and ordination certificates with embossed seals, French royal, imperial and notarial manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries, and signed letters of statesmen and rulers, including a Medici autograph of 1524.

The section also includes ecclesiastical art, early printed books and official Vatican City coin sets.