Gardens of Vatican City
Gardens of the Vatican City | |
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The Vatican Gardens
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Type | Botanical |
Location | Vatican City |
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Area | 23 hectares (57 acres) |
Owned by | The Pope as Bishop of Rome |
Status | Active |
The Gardens of Vatican City also informally known as the Vatican Gardens (Italian: Giardini Vaticani ) in Vatican City are private urban gardens and parks which cover more than half of the country, located in the west of the territory and is owned by the Pope. There are some buildings, such as Radio Vatican, within the gardens.
The gardens cover approximately 23 hectares (57 acres) which is most of the Vatican Hill. The highest point is 60 metres (200 ft) above mean sea level. Stone walls bound the area in the North, South and West. The gardens and parks were established during the Renaissance and Baroque era and are decorated with fountains and sculptures.
There is no general public access, but guided tours are available to limited numbers.[1] The gardens also enshrine 14 Marian images venerated worldwide at the designation of the Roman Pontiff, who is the owner of the gardens.
Contents
History

Pious tradition claim that the foundation site of the Vatican Gardens was spread with sacred soil brought from Mount Calvary by Empress Saint Helena[2][3] to symbolically unite the blood of Jesus Christ with that shed by thousands of early Christians, who died in the persecutions of Emperor Nero Caesar Augustus.[2]
The gardens date back to medieval times when orchards and vineyards extended to the north of the Papal Apostolic Palace.[4] In 1279, Pope Nicholas III (Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, 1277–1280) moved his residence back to the Vatican from the Lateran Palace and enclosed this area with walls.[5] He planted an orchard (pomerium), a lawn (pratellum) and a garden (viridarium).[5]
The site received a major re-landscaping at the beginning of the 16th century,[4] during the pontificate of Pope Julius II.[6] Donato Bramante's original design was then split into three new courtyards,[6] the Cortili del Belvedere, the "della Biblioteca" and the "della Pigna" (or Pine Cone)[4][6] in the Renaissance landscape design style. Also in Renaissance style, a great rectangular Labyrinth, formal in design, set in boxwood and framed with Italian stone pines, (Pinus pinea) and cedars of Lebanon, (Cedrus libani).[2] In place of Nicholas III's enclosure, Bramante built a great rectilinear defensive wall.[6]
Today's Vatican Gardens are spread over nearly 23 hectares (57 acres), they contain a variety of medieval fortifications, buildings and monuments from the 9th century to the present day, set among vibrant flower beds and topiary, green lawns and a 3 hectares (7.4 acres) patch of forest. There are a variety of fountains cooling the gardens, sculptures, an artificial grotto devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes, and an olive tree donated by the government of Israel.[7]
Patroness of the Gardens
Pope Pius XI designated Saint Therese of Lisieux The Little Flower as the official Patroness of the gardens on 17 May 1927, according her the title as "Sacred Keeper of the Gardens" and within the same year a small temple dedicated to her was built within the gardens near the Leonine walls.
List of Marian images enshrined
The following are the official list of venerated images of the Blessed Virgin Mary enshrined at the Vatican Gardens:
Image within the Gardens | Place of Devotion | Nation | Year of Devotion | Date of Installation | Feast Day |
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Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception |
Lourdes | ![]() |
1858 | 1 June 1902 | February 11 |
Our Lady of the Watch |
Monte Figogna | ![]() |
1490 | 2 May 1917 | August 29 |
Our Lady of Guadalupe |
Tepeyac | ![]() |
1531 | 14 October 1939 | December 12 |
Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima | Pontevedra | ![]() |
1917 | 29 May 1983 | May 13 |
The Madonna of Schoenstatt | Vallendar | ![]() |
1914 | 1992 | October 18 |
The Black Madonna of Czestochowa | Jasna Gora | ![]() |
1382 | 1994 | August 26 |
The Virgin of Mercy | Savona | ![]() |
1536 | 10 May 1995 | March 18 |
Our Lady of Divine Love | Via Ardeatina | ![]() |
1740 | 10 May 1999 | Monday of Pentecost |
Our Lady of Sacred Heart of Taggia | Rome | ![]() |
1855 | 21 March 2006 | March 11 |
Our Lady of Good Counsel | Genazzano | ![]() |
1467 | 11 July 2009 | April 26 |
The Virgin of Suyapa | Honduras | ![]() |
1747 | 20 September 2013 | February 3 |
Santa Maria de la Antigua | Panama | ![]() |
1513 | 26 October 2013 | September 9 |
Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre | Cuba | ![]() |
1612 | 28 August 2014 | September 8 |
Our Lady of Penafrancia | Philippines | ![]() |
1434 | 3 December 2015 | 3rd Saturday in September |
Gallery
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Fountain of the Eagle, Vatican gardens, Rome.JPG
The Fountain of the Eagle "Fontana dell'Aquilone" in the Vatican Gardens
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Khatchkar Vatican Gardens 2011-07-05.jpg
Armenian cross monument (Khatchkar) inside the Vatican Gardens
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Vatican Gardens 2.jpg
Vatican Gardens
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Vatican Gardens 6.jpg
Vatican Gardens
See also
References
Notes
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Bibliography
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- Ricci, Corrado. "Vatican: Its History Its Treasures" Contributor Ernesto Begni. © 2003 Published by Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 0-7661-3941-7, ISBN 978-0-7661-3941-1
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Sources
The initial version is based upon the article it:Giardini Vaticani of the Italian language edition of Wikipedia. Data concerning the measures of lengths were taken from the article de:Vatikanische Gärten of the German language edition of Wikipedia.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
- [1], current and historical layouts
- Official website
- The Vatican: spirit and art of Christian Rome, a book from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on the gardens (pp. 155–164)
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- ↑ Vatican Gardens Tour - Vatican Museum Rome
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Archived: 8 March 2012.
- ↑ Patron saint of archaeologists
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- Pages with broken file links
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- Articles containing Italian-language text
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- Official website not in Wikidata
- Gardens in Vatican City
- Geography of Vatican City
- Parks in Vatican City