On 7 February 1984 Pope John Paul II inaugurated the impressive extension work to the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Secret Archives. For the occasion there was the direct cooperation inside the Vatican between the historic publishers Belser in Stuttgart and the Apostolic Library to implement the great project for the “CODICUM FACSIMILES”.

The great project for the production of the “CODICUM FACSIMILES”, which the Vatican Authorities have been studying for a long time, to inform the world of the treasures of knowledge and beauty that have been conserved for centuries, and to conserve precious sources of culture of universal value.

Pope John Paul II, true to the ecumenical spirit that distinguished his pontificate, declared the cultural project, promoted by the Vatican Apostolic Library, involving the historic German publishers Belser in Stuttgart as of great importance “to spread knowledge of the world of treasures of learning and beauty...”.

In the workshops the German publishers installed in the “Vaticana” the greatest work in the world of producing facsimiles of manuscripts was carried out of some of the most important for their text and pictorial decorations. Unequalled experience and advanced scientific techniques have produced perfect reproductions of the original documents of absolute and unequalled quality.