Vatican Library Awards NFTs to Supporters of its Manuscript Collections
The Vatican Library has announced that it will begin awarding nontransferable NFTs (nonfungible tokens) to supporters of its manuscript collections.
The project in collaboration with Japanese IT services provider NTT DATA is currently only available to Italian donors to the library which holds around 180,000 manuscripts and more than 1.6m printed books. It follows a trial scheme operating since February last year.
People who mention the NFT project on their social media accounts through July 16 will receive a 'Silver NFT' key allowing them to open and consult a special collection of high-resolution images of 15 manuscripts of the library. Financial donors will be awarded a 'Gold NFT' giving them access to high-resolution images of manuscripts in the special collection. Future plans include the possibiity of visiting spaces through immersive experiences in Extended Reality formats.
“I believe that our heritage requires particular attention and dedication aimed at conservation and promotion," said Don Mauro Mantovani, Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library. "The digital archiving solution has contributed to the long-term preservation of this priceless heritage, without causing any damage to the precious materials from around the world and representing numerous eras and cultures."
The library was officially established in 1475, although there has been some kind of library/archive since the 4th century.
