To-do lists, pay stubs: Archive details St. Peter's construction

Published: 2006-01-13

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- For every sack of cement that was purchased, for every block of stone quarried and hauled to Rome, architects in charge of building St. Peter's Basilica filled out and filed away receipts and penned detailed notations in thick, bound ledgers. Even every artisan and worker hired, every on-the-job accident, lawsuit and progress report on the construction of the world's largest church were recorded and stored away in a little-known -- but priceless -- Vatican archive. The archives of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Vatican office responsible for the basilica's construction matters, certainly do not carry the same recognition as the Vatican Secret Archives, perhaps because their contents may seem more mundane. Instead of 20th-century Vatican intrigue, one is more likely to find a Renaissance master's to-do list, crinkled pay stubs and requests addressed to patrons holding the purse strings. More than 10,000 pieces of parchment, documents, slips and scraps of paper are catalogued and tucked away in fat, hardcover volumes.

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