Portal:Vatican City

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Vatican City (/ˈvætɪkənˈsɪti/ ^ⓘ), officially the Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is a landlocked sovereign country, city-state, microstate, and enclave surrounded by, and historically a part of, Rome, Italy. It became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty, and is a distinct territory under "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the Holy See, which is itself a sovereign entity under international law, maintaining the city-state's temporal power, governance, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. The Vatican is also a metonym for the pope, the city-state's and worldwide Catholic Church government Holy See, and Roman Curia. The country has the world's smallest land area and the smallest population, with 764 citizens as of 2023.

With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and as of 2023 a population of about 764, it is the smallest state in the world both by area and by population. It is also the second-least populated capital in the world. As governed by the Holy See, Vatican City State is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Pope, who is the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church. The highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergy of various origins. After the Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) the popes have mainly resided at the Apostolic Palace within what is now Vatican City, although at times residing instead in the Quirinal Palace in Rome or elsewhere. (Full article...)

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The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, aka the VATT, is a 1.8 meter Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared. It is part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. It is situated on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona, and it achieved 'first light', the first starlight to pass through the telescope onto a detector, in 1993. It is operated by the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, in partnership with The University of Arizona.

The heart of the telescope is an f/1.0 honeycombed construction, borosilicate primary mirror. The mirror was manufactured at The University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory[1], which pioneered both the spin-casting and the stressed-lap polishing techniques which are being used for telescope mirrors that include the 6.5 meter aperture MMT and Magellan telescopes and the two 8.4 meter mirrors of the Large Binocular Telescope. The VATT's mirror is unusually 'fast', f/1, which means that its focal distance is equal to its diameter. Because it has such a short focal length, a Gregorian design could be employed which uses a concave secondary mirror at a point beyond the primary focus; this allows unusually sharp focusing across the field of view.

The unusual optical design and novel mirror fabrication techniques mean that both the primary and secondary mirrors are among the most exact surfaces ever made for a ground-based telescope. In addition, the skies above Mount Graham are among the most clear, steady, and dark in the continental North America. Seeing of better than one arc-second even without adaptive optics can be achieved on a regular basis.

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Sistine Chapel (Latin: Sacellum Sixtinum; Italian: Cappella Sistina) is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican City.

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The following are images from various Vatican City-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Armenian cross monument (Khatchkar) inside the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 2Polish ambassador to the Vatican, Kazimierz Papée, was critical of Pius XII's pre-war mediation efforts. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 3St. Peter's Basilica is one of the most renowned works of Renaissance architecture. (from Vatican City)
Image 4The shortest national railway system in the world (from Vatican City)
Image 5The Apostolic Palace (Palazzo Apostolico), the official residence of the Pope. Here, Benedict XVI is at the window marked by a maroon banner hanging from the windowsill at centre. (from Vatican City)
Image 6A view of the Gardens of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 7Territory of Vatican City State according to the Lateran Treaty (from Vatican City)
Image 8Pope Francis in Vatican City, 2021 (from Vatican City)
Image 9The Seal of Vatican City. Note the use of the Italian language. (from Vatican City)
Image 10The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Crime in Vatican City)
Image 11View of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome (from Vatican City)
Image 12Vatican Museums' "New Wing", built by Raffaele Stern (1774–1820) (from Vatican City)
Image 13President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on July 10, 2009. (from Women in Vatican City)
Image 14The Vatican City came into existence in 1929, a decade before the start of World War II (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 15The Vatican obelisk in St. Peter's Square was brought to Rome from Egypt by Caligula. (from Vatican City)
Image 16Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 17Musicians of the British Army's 38th (Irish) Brigade playing in front of St. Peter's Basilica in June 1944 (from Vatican City)
Image 18The Italian peninsula in 1796. The Papal States in central Italy are coloured purple. (from Vatican City)
Image 19The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Vatican City)
Image 20The Ingresso di Sant'Anna, an entrance to Vatican City from Italy (from Vatican City)
Image 21Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Vatican City)
Image 22Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 23Map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 24A monument to Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, among the estimated 3,000 members (18%) of the Polish clergy who were killed by the Nazis; of these, 1,992 died in concentration camps. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 25A souvenir shop on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 26An early interpretation of the relative locations of the circus, and the medieval and current Basilicas of St. Peter (from Vatican City)
Image 27Pay phone in the Vatican City (from Vatican City)
Image 28Map of Vatican City, highlighting notable buildings and the Vatican gardens (from Vatican City)
Image 29Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 30Members of the Canadian Royal 22nd Regiment in audience with Pope Pius XII, following the 1944 Liberation of Rome. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 31Part of the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 32Empress Saint Helena of Constantinople carrying the One True Cross laying the grounds for the gardens using the sacred soil from Mount Calvary. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 33One possible modern interpretation (from Vatican City)
Image 34Gendarmerie car (from Vatican City)
Image 35An ATM in Vatican City with Latin instructions (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 36The Fountain of the Eagle "Fontana dell'Aquilone" in the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 37Image of the United Nations member state borders on a map (from Vatican City)
Image 38The Vatican's post office was established on 11 February 1929. (from Vatican City)
Image 39Bernardino Nogara, the chief Vatican financier during the war (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 40Enlargeable, detailed map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 41A guard of the Vatican at his sentry box (from Vatican City)
Image 42Cesare Orsenigo (left, with Hitler and Ribbentrop), nuncio to Germany, also served as de facto nuncio to Poland. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 43The Little Flower, Saint Therese of Lisieux is the official Patroness of the gardens. (from Gardens of Vatican City)

Did you know?

... that the Vatican selected Mary Milligan in 1987 to be one of only three U.S. experts to assist the International Synod of Bishops on the Laity in Rome?
... that Sans's boss theme, "Megalovania", was played at the Vatican as part of a circus act during an audience with Pope Francis?
... that the final silent film directed by Giulia Cassini Rizzotto was partly funded by the Vatican and featured Italian aristocrats?
... that a Vatican Hebrew manuscript has been used as a source for analysing and emending modern editions of the Palestinian Talmud?
... that some Catholics considered Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag" (audio featured) to be blasphemous?
... that sport in Vatican City has included cricket, calcio fiorentino, and taekwondo?

...that the 22 Bodmer Papyri from a fifth-century Egyptian monastic library near Nag Hammadi contain three plays by Menander and fragments of the Iliad, as well as early versions of the Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John?"

...that in the Vatican's Cortile del Belvedere Bramante created the first monumental formal garden design of the Renaissance?

...that Pope Pius XII's retention of Cesare Orsenigo (pictured left, with Hitler and von Ribbentrop) as Apostolic Nuncio to Germany is a "chief point of criticism" of his response to the Holocaust?

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