VATICAN CITY

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Technically, Vatican City, or simply the Vatican as it is better known, is the smallest country in the world by territory and population. However, in the North Sea, just 10 km off the English coast, there is an old oil platform of 550 m² called the "Principality of Sealand," which boasts of being the smallest country in the world. This might be true except that no one lives there, and it has no buildings or infrastructure. So, we remove it from this discussion and leave the Vatican as it is officially, the smallest country in the world in terms of territory. It is essentially a city within another city (Rome), a sovereign state without sea access within another region (Lazio), and a country within another country (Italy). That means the Vatican only borders Italy from any angle. Its territorial extension is 44 hectares (0.44 km²) with around 800 inhabitants, which, if converted into meters per capita, makes it the most densely populated country in the world. It is also the most urbanized, as it has no industries or agricultural fields. Its economy is entirely based on tourism, the sale of souvenirs, museum admissions, and revenues from indulgences, tithes, and the global Catholic organization.

For English, click → The Vatican City

The origin of the Vatican dates back to the Etruscan era, as where the Holy See is located today was once a necropolis guarded by Vatika, the pagan goddess of death. Centuries later, during the Roman Empire, the ancient cemetery had become the Roman Circus. When the apostle Peter was crucified, he was buried near the Circus, and being considered the first pope of the Catholic Church, pilgrims began to visit his tomb. In 324, Constantine the Great ordered the construction of a shrine over Peter's tomb. Pope Julius II began constructing the current St. Peter's Basilica around 1500.

However, the direct precedent of Vatican City as a country is between 752 and 1870 with the Papal States, which conglomerated territories with Rome as the capital and the reigning pope as the civil authority. This ended in 1871 when Italian King Victor Emmanuel II took Rome and declared it the capital of Italy.

Vatican City is a country with numerous curiosities in its social, political, demographic, and diplomatic structure, as it does not follow conventional norms. For example:

• Those born there, who are very few, are not granted Vatican nationality. It is given to diplomats and employees of the nunciatures while they are in office.
• There is no official language in the Vatican, but Italian is the most spoken. However, it is truly a multilingual country, almost like the Tower of Babel. It is the only place in the world where Latin is spoken.
• Of all the Egyptian obelisks in the world, the one in St. Peter's Square (formerly in the Roman Coliseum) is the only one without hieroglyphs. If anyone knows why, we would appreciate it if they told us.
• The Vatican has properties worldwide, but two of them are officially part of the Vatican State: the Pontifical Palace of Castel Gandolfo, the pope's resting residence by Lake Albano, 20 km south of Rome, and the Basilica of St. John Lateran, located in central Rome but not belonging to Italy, rather to the Vatican.

When we talk about representative culture of the Vatican, it is clear that we refer to the culture of the Catholic religion, with architecture, painting, and sculpture being its major exponents in St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Square, and the Vatican Museums.

http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html

Among the Vatican Museums, we can mention: the Chiaramonti Museum, the Gregorian Museum of Egyptian and Etruscan Art, the Pio-Clementine Museum, and the Vatican Pinacoteca, inaugurated in 1932 but which began forming as a collection in 1790. Currently, it has 460 works spread across 18 rooms with paintings from the 12th-13th centuries to the 19th century. Among the invaluable collection are works by some of the greatest Italian artists such as Caravaggio, Giotto, Leonardo, and Raphael.

However, art is not limited to the pinacoteca or religious themes but exists in large quantities throughout the Vatican. It is said that no artwork has been acquired, all have been donated. It is also said that every artist has among their goals to know that one of their pieces is exhibited somewhere in the Vatican, not for reasons of faith or belief but for the status of "being where you need to be." For example, Mexican muralists of the left, atheists, or anti-church are there, like Rivera or Siqueiros

Casa Europa Mexico Recommends...

A 26-minute virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel (explained in Spanish).

Internet References:

Text and image credits appear at the bottom of the corresponding image.

Text adaptation: Homero Adame

Vatican City text translation into English: Pat Grounds