HISTORY: Catherine Giltrapreviews The Vatican: Secrets and Treasures of the Holy City By Michael Collins,Dorling Kindersley, 311pp, £25
'PLENTY MORE fish in the sea" is not a phrase one associates with the Vatican - except tangentially with fisherman St Peter - but this is the contemporary Italian usage of the Roman phrase "Mort' un papa, se ne fa un altro", or as Fr Michael Collins translates it in his recently published book: "If one pope dies, we will make another." Having experienced in my lifetime the long reign of only one pope previous to the current pontiff's election in 2005, it seems strange to say popes come and go; however, it is the Vatican itself that transcends history. Links with Christianity since the death of St Peter and, at a later point, the Roman Catholic faith in particular, narrate nearly two millennia of its existence.
Even if you might find many a neighbouring Roman who has never set foot in the Vatican state, their language, urban design, architecture, art and traditions are wholly infiltrated by a phenomenon that survived the Roman Empire, passed the Renaissance by, and left the Baroque scrolling into history.
I worked in Rome and the Vatican as an art and architectural historian for almost three years and gained a good insider's knowledge of many aspects of this treasure house of faith and culture, yet Collins's text offers both the novice and the well-acquainted a privileged insight into the life of the Vatican, the treasures it holds and the people who embody and maintain it. Extraordinary routines followed by ordinary people, detailed here by employing both image and text, are what will attract a large readership. Generic publications about the Vatican are numerous and while the images usually stun, the written word often bores. Collins, however, manages to balance in-depth, engaging and concise accounts with a plethora of imagery demonstrating both his close connections with this unique city state and a style that reveals his experience as a communicator.
Collins's years lived in the Vatican and experience lecturing in world religion at the American University in Rome, along with time spent guiding people of varying backgrounds through the Vatican, enables him to write without too much bias, leaving the reader with a sense that what is offered is objectively informative. Readers of this review should, I hope, note no bias in my comments - I was brought up a non-denominational Christian, or a "'non-dominational" Christian as we used to mispronounce it as children, perhaps more appropriately. It is with a balanced hand that Collins describes how the Vatican came to exist, who shaped it, how it functions and how it has developed in the modern world. He tells of the Vatican becoming the first "carbon-zero" nation in 2007, aided by the fact that half of the 109 acres are still garden. I would estimate, however, that the carbon footprint of neighbouring Rome is not much improved by the millions of visitors travelling to the Vatican. Any contentious issues relating to ethics, morals or theological differences with the world beyond the Vatican are acknowledged by Collins but not developed - the book is introduced as a "visual portrait" not a theological discourse.
While working at the Vatican, I was fortunate to befriend staff in the Sistine Chapel and the post office, some of whom feature in the "behind the scenes" images in Collins's book. I also enjoyed aperitivi with Vatican fire-fighter friends and their Swiss Guard colleagues, hearing of football matches between the Vatican and neighbouring Italy. I have experienced first-hand the truly unique character of this small state, parallel with the normal lives of its employees. The near superstar quality that enveloped the reign of pope John Paul II is played down by the author in a book that is strikingly non-pope-centric. Although a good 30 pages describe the history of the pontiffs from the Roman era to the present day, Collins also speaks of the Vatican's interaction with historical figures such as emperor Charlemagne, Michelangelo and Mussolini. Nearly one-third of the book is devoted to the portrayal of daily routines of the mosaic and picture restorers, the treasury curator and his colleagues, Swiss guards, choir boys, and the papal photographer, plus the quotidian schedule of Pope Benedict XVI and his top-ranking staff. It is Collins's personal insight into the extraordinary lives of ordinary employees at the Vatican that distinguishes this book, as well as Dorling Kindersley's publication of what is in itself a visually attractive artefact.
• Catherine Giltrap is curator of the Trinity College Dublin art collections. She worked in Rome and the Vatican between 2001 and 2003 as an expert docent and researcher