SECRET ARCHIVES

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At KLEIO, our goal is to not only recreate aromas of the past but also to share the fascinating history behind each candle. 

Ancient libraries safeguarding the world’s historically important books—these are places filled with the deepest mysteries: secrets begging to be discovered, but perhaps not for centuries to come. Premier among such hallowed spaces is the Vatican Library, legendary for the enigmatic documents it protects. 

Dating back to the fourth century, there are records of a Scrinium of the Roman Church: a library and an archive. As writings and books were gathered, they were overseen by individuals called Bibilothecarius, or Librarian. Collections attributed to the early Popes resided in cities like Perugia, Assisi, Avignon. The beginnings of the Vatican Library as it is known today can be traced to Gregory XI, who established a site in Rome, in 1378. 

That very insititution was housed in the ground floor of a building with an entrance from the Cortile dei Pappagalli, and a façade on the Cortile del Belvedere. The building remains today, refurbished and enhanced, nevertheless original at its core. At that time, there were four rooms, respectively called Bibliotheca Latina and Bibliotheca Graeca (for works in these two languages); Bibliotheca Secreta (for manuscripts which were not directly available to readers, including certain precious ones). Until very recently, that particular collection—the records, letters, and texts of Popes—has been known as The Secret Archives. Today, it is called The Apostolic Archive. But it is no less a repository of some of the world’s most enigmatic documents.  

Such forays into centuries past prompt a profound feeling among those who enter the age-old space. It is a multi-sensory experience: visual, spiritual, auditory, but importantly, olfactory. The smell which greets readers permitted to explore the recordings of the past is significant and very important. To open a volume created perhaps 500 or 600 years ago is to immediately experience the aura of time immemorial; words of writers long gone; those whose pen scratches filled the pages.