A Visit to the Vatican Library - 60 Minutes

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Saw this on 60 Minutes earlier this evening and found it extremely fascinating. I figured those here would appreciate it.

"A Visit to the Vatican Library" (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7362330n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel)

[Caliban's Isle]

That is very fascinating, so thanks for sharing! What a dream it would be to visit there and peruse the collection.

I was surprised by their somewhat casual handling of those documents and books. I would've imagined that some sort of protective gloves would be required to protect the material from skin oils or whatever other finger cooties might come into contact and damage them.

I was also a bit alarmed by how close Morley Safer was allowed to get to the precious documents, given his Sylvester the cat speech and the saliva shower that likely results from it.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Haha, I thought the same. Though, I think the oldest documents were replicas (like the nearly-2000-year-old papyrus). They quickly mention that no one's allowed to touch those. Still, I was nervous for those giant, gorgeous books. Morley didn't seem flustered, though. I'd be sweating my *** off, and would not even dare to touch them.

[gUfo]

it's amazing how hard those docs must have been to make, and how few have had access to them over the years. makes me glad we live in the information age where literacy is high and people can communicate over thousands of miles in nanoseconds!