The Lancisiana Library is located in the upper loggia of the Palazzo del Commendatore (16th century) in the monumental complex of Santo Spirito in Saxia in Rome. It was founded in 1711 by Giovanni Maria Lancisi, an influential doctor and papal archiater, personal physician to Popes Innocent XI and Clement XI, and was inaugurated on 21 May 1714 in the Pope’s presence.
Furnished with cupboards designed by architect Tommaso Mattei, the reading room has a superb 18th century ceiling fresco attributed to Gregorio Guglielmi and conserves two 17th century globes by Vincenzo Coronelli.
The library has a collection of about 19,000 volumes, from three main sources: Lancisi, Severino and Nuove Acquisizioni, including incunabula, about 1,600 post-incunables, numerous books from the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s and manuscripts from the 14th to 19th centuries. The manuscript collection includes the illuminated codex Liber Fraternitatis Sanctis Spiritus in Saxia de Urbe which contains the signatures of the thousands of hospital benefactors: popes, kings, nobles and ordinary people from across the Christian world who became part of the Confraternita Ospitaliera (Order of Hospitallers) of Santo Spirito.
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