The famed  Vatican Library is once more open after an extensive  three-year restoration project, which involved installing climate control to preserve priceless old manuscripts and books, as well as up-to-date security systems.  Access  will be limited to between 4,000 and 5,000 scholars and researchers per year who are allowed to consult books on the library premises. No item can be taken out of the library.

The library contains some 150,000 volumes of manuscripts and around 70,000 books, including the oldest known Bible, dating from 325, believed to have been commissioned by the Emperor Constantine, the first to make Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire, and the illuminated Urbino bible, produced in 1476-78 and considered one of the finest works of art of the 15 th century.