Vatican Library opens to contemporary art for the first time: Pietro Ruffo's exhibition

The Vatican Apostolic Library opens to contemporary art: in fact, yesterday, November 5, in the presence of Pope Francis, the exhibition Tutti. Humanity on the Way. From travel cartography to utopian and allegorical maps: the Vatican Library meets Pietro Ruffo, on view until Feb. 25, 2022. The exhibition, which also inaugurated the Library’s new Exhibition Hall, was the result of a meeting between artist Pietro Ruffo (Rome, 1978) and the Vatican Library and is divided into four sections. In the first, four examples of celestial and terrestrial cartography created by Pietro Ruffo are presented, while in the second, three rare specimens from the treasures of the papal collection can be admired: a Chinese planisphere, an Indian astronomical roll and five 16th-century paper astrolabes.

Continuing, inside the Exhibition Hall the public will be able to see the comparison between the artist and the Vatican: There one will see, juxtaposed with each other, different examples of how human beings have resorted to, and still employ the cartographic paradigm to represent realities that have nothing geographical about them, such as their own dreams and utopias, inner feelings and movements, theological perspectives and social critiques. The exhibition culminates with a site-specific installation conceived by Ruffo (it is titled The Clarest Way) inside the scenic Barberini Hall with its original 17th-century furniture.

Pietro Ruffo’s works were inspired by Pope Francis’ latest encyclical, Fratelli tutti, dedicated to fraternity and social friendship: the exhibition is also meant to be a path of reflection around the encyclical, conceived as a dialogue between ancient and present, between the heritage of the Vatican Library and today’s artistic expression. Pope Francis himself spoke during the inauguration of the exhibition and the Exhibition Hall, an event that represents a first for the Vatican: it is in fact the debut of contemporary art in the Vatican Library. The pontiff hoped that the light of the Library “will shine through science, but also through beauty,” and, he pointed out that beauty “is not the fleeting illusion of an appearance or an ornament: instead, it arises from the root of goodness, truth and justice, which are its synonyms.” He added, “But we must not neglect to think and speak of beauty, because the human heart does not only need bread, it does not only need that which guarantees its immediate survival: it also needs culture, that which touches the soul, which brings the human being closer to his profound dignity. This is why the Church must bear witness to the importance of beauty and culture, dialoguing with the particular thirst for the infinite that defines the human being.”

For Cardinal Librarian José Tolentino de Mendonça, who heads the Vatican Library, the inauguration of the new exhibition hall is an opportunity to support the culture of encounter. “Our bet,” Mendonça said, “is to strengthen the cultural role of the Vatican Library in the contemporary world. From a great library we expect a commitment to achieve what Pope Francis prophetically calls a ’culture of encounter.’ Let books meet readers, tracing original paths. That knowledge preserved as memory may meet the questions that current events pose to us. May history meet the present, opening new perspectives not only on what we have been but also on what we can be.”

Pictured: Pope Francis looks at a work by Pietro Ruffo.

Vatican Library opens to contemporary art for the first time: Pietro Ruffo's exhibition

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