Vatican Explores Space-Age Technology To Preserve Its Most Ancient Documents

The Vatican has turned to space-age technology to help preserve some of the oldest and most fragile documents in the world.

The Holy See is using a system called FITS, or flexible image transport system format, that was developed by the European Space Agency and NASA for radio astronomy.

The importance of effective digital storage of rare documents has been highlighted by the recent series of earthquakes that have devasted entired towns and villages in Italy.

The images and documents are not only preserved by the system, but they are done so using computer coding that is designed to be easily readable by computers of the future if current technology becomes obsolete, Vatican Radio reported.

"Our collaboration is based on the common intention by our two institutions to promote the long-term preservation of images in electronic format," said Mgr Cesare Pasini, prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library.

"The Vatican Apostolic Library and ESA are two examples that attest to the approach of collaboration for global benefit," said Josef Aschbacher, director of the agency's earth observation programmes. "While ESA provides global information about the state of our planet through satellite observations, the Vatican Apostolic Library offers a unique source of wisdom that has contributed to the development of our society and culture."

The European Space Agency reports on its website that the latest agreement follows an existing collaboration over the past five years.

The Vatican Library was founded in 1475 and is among the world's oldest libraries. Some of the many thousands of documents in storage are more than 1,800 years old. The Vatican offers free access to scholars around the world.