17 October 2008
PRESS CONFERENCE
WITH CARDINAL GIOVANNI LAJOLO
PRESIDENT OF THE PONTIFICAL COMMISSION
AND OF THE GOVERNORSHIP OF VATICAN CITY STATE
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FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR 2008
“THE VATICAN IN THE PUBLISHING WORLD”
17 October 2008
Dear Ladies and Gentleman;
1. I am honoured and pleased to present today, in this prestigious Frankfurt Book Fair, the stand of Edizioni Musei Vaticani who along with the Liberia Editrice Vaticana, represent the Holy See and the State of Vatican City.
In the practically unlimited panorama of modern publishing, the importance of religious publishing, and more categorically, of books that deal with religion, is by no means insignificant, undoubtedly a sign of Man’s need to search the soul and no less for its reason.
Amongst religious publishing, the Christian one has, I believe, a prominence that is not negligible. How many Catholic publishers are present in this Expo, I do not know, but what I do know is that they bear witness to the widely recognized cultural commitment that the Holy See values very much and encourages with conviction.
I am here today in my role as President of the Governorship of the Vatican City State and President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State, the governing entities which oversee and care for the works of the Vatican Museums, among other governmental departments. The UVPR (the Sales Office for Publications and Reproductions) is inserted within the great context of the Vatican Museums.
The publishing activity of the Directorate of the Vatican Museums, managed and coordinated by the various persons in charge of each curatorial department and who often call upon the collaboration of art historians, archaeologists, ethnologists and anthropologists of international renown, is dedicated to the in-depth scientific study of the works conserved in the Museums’ collections, as well as the entire cultural heritage – also architectonic and historic - entrusted to its tutelage.
Along this line, due space is found for the specialized studies on the processes of conservation and restoration of the art works, on the recent archaeological discoveries within the sphere of Vatican territory and external to it, and finally, on the presentation of the most recent acquisitions to the collections. Also, a intense section is that of the catalogues that accompany the exhibitions in the pontifical galleries or in exhibitions featuring loaned works from the Holy See in special international events.
The Sales Office for Publications and Reproductions of the Vatican Museums (UVPR) owes its present organization to my predecessor José Cardinal Castillo Lara, President of the Pontifical Commission and the Governorship for the Vatican City State from 1990 to 1997. He recognized the importance of spreading the Christian message by means of the universal medium of art represented by the collections and works housed in one of the most famous cultural institutions of the Holy See: the Vatican Museums. He decided to develop the commercial potential of the Sales Office for Publications and Reproductions by nominating Dr. Francesco Riccardi as manager to direct this new office as well as naming him the new Administrator of the Vatican Museums.
2. With his untiring staff, Dr. Riccardi studies, researches, and above all reproduces a series of products for the Edizioni Musei Vaticani, utilizing the consultation of the scientific staff of the museum Directorate, of the availability of the in-house photographic archives, of the proven printing expertise of the Vatican Printing Press, and of select pool of businesses and artisans from various countries. From this moment on, therefore, the production of books, learning guides, art catalogues, reproductions of works and replicas from original moulds from the sculpture collection, novelties and objects for everyday use are produced. These items find their evident point of reference from the works of art and thus facilitate their knowledge and enjoyment.
The activities of the Sales Office for Publishing and Reproductions has developed thanks in part to its relations with other museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City with whom the first licensing agreements were made.