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  • 100th fountain in Vatican Gardens dedicated to Saint Joseph

    A fascinating unicum

    On Monday, 5 July 2010, during his address for the inauguration of the new fountain in the Vatican Gardens dedicated to Saint Joseph, Benedict XVI said, “It is a work that increases the artistic patrimony of this enchanting green space in Vatican City, full of historical and artistic testimonies of various epochs. Indeed, not only the lawns, the flowers, plants and trees, but also the towers, pavilions, small temples, fountains, statues and other buildings make this garden into a fascinating unicum”.

  • Inauguration of a mosaic depicting Christ Pantocrator in the Vatican Gardens

    Symbol of the Mission of the Trinitarians

    On Thursday morning, 5 December, a mosaic depicting Christ Pantocrator, made by young people with disabilities and their teachers, was officially inaugurated in the Vatican Gardens. The impressive mosaic was the result of a collaboration with the mosaics laboratory of the Centro di Riabilitazione Ada “Ceschin Pilone” (rehabilitation centre) of the Institute of the Trinitarian Fathers of Venosa-Bernalda. Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, presided over the inauguration ceremony.

  • The Benedictine nuns of the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery

    Prayer and work at the service of the Pope and our brothers and sisters

    Their life and their work

    In response to an invitation by the Holy Father, as of January 2024, the Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of Santa Scolastica in Argentina have resumed their ministry of prayer, adoration, lauds and reparations at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, in the Vatican Gardens, to support the Holy Father in his daily care for the whole Church.

  • Tulips planted in the Vatican Gardens in honour of Saint John Paul II

    Tulips were planted in the Vatican Gardens on Tuesday morning, 22 October, in memory of Saint John Paul II, on the day of his liturgical memorial.

  • Vatican Gardens

    The Gardens have been the place of rest and meditation of Roman Pontiffs since 1279, when Pope Nicholas III (Giovani Gaetano Orsini (1277-1280) moved the papal residence from the Lateran Palace to the Vatican. Inside the new walls that he had built to defend his residence, the Pope had an orchard (pomerium) planted, a lawn (pratellum) and a true and proper garden (viridarium), as can be seen in a stone inscription now stored in the Sala dei Capitani (Hall of the Captains) at the Palazzo dei Conservatori at the Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill). This first section was located near the hill of Sant’Egidio, where the Palace of the Belvedere is now located and the courtyard of the Vatican Museums. The area from where visits to the Vatican Gardens begin, instead, is a more recent part of the State, on which new larger Gardens were planted that, along with the original garden, cover half of the roughly 44 hectares that comprise the Vatican.
     

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