VATICAN CITY (CNS) — State-of-the-art technology and the latest in multi-media presentation techniques reveal some of the centuries-old treasures housed in the “pope’s library” in a new exhibit at the Vatican.

The show’s blend of antique and super-modern aims to give a glimpse of the vast and varied collection of books, manuscripts and prints that line the Vatican Library’s 31 miles of shelves.

From Nov. 11 to Jan. 31, the exhibit “Know the Vatican Library: A Story Open to the Future” offers a virtual glimpse of the papal library that is off-limits to all but the most highly qualified scholars from around the world.

The show, held in the Braccio Carlo Magno next to St. Peter’s Square, is part of the celebration marking the end of a three-year restoration of the papal library, created in the 15th century by Pope Nicholas V.

The exhibit was conceived “to allow all those who don’t have the privilege to enter” to get to know the library, said the Vatican archivist, Cardinal Raffaele Farina.

At a news conference at the Vatican Nov. 9, he also said the show would illustrate how the Vatican Library “is the patrimony of all humanity.”

Cardinal Farina said Pope Benedict XVI is expected to view the exhibit Dec. 18.

Visitors walk in to a re-creation of the frescoed Sistino hall, where they can see in video images on the walls of how monks of centuries past toiled at their desks as they wrote their manuscripts and illuminated them with exquisite drawings. Visitors can don white gloves and take their turn at turning the pages of high-quality reproductions of the medieval- and Renaissance-era volumes.

Another room shows a selection of the manuscripts kept in the library, most of them reproductions of the invaluable originals. They include a Book of the Hours in Latin from 1500, Greek Bibles in parchment rolls and a book by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio.

Original prints and engravings of maps and landscapes of Rome from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries are followed by original volumes of printed texts by Galileo, Petrarch, Ludovico Ariosto and Voltaire. An original 15th-century print by German artist Albrecht Durer can be found with original drawings for the altar at Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran by Baroque architect Francesco Borromeo.

The Vatican Library’s rich collection of coins and medallions is represented by original pieces and a video explaining the evolution of coinage.

An eight-minute video describes the history of the library and offers a glimpse of the building, its study halls and endless shelving and describes the contents: some 80,000 manuscripts, nearly 1.6 million books, approximately 8,400 incunabula and an important coin and medallion collection of 300,000 pieces.

It also explains how in such a vast network, a misplaced book can be lost forever. Now, each book can be identified and found through a system using radio frequencies.

Entrance to the exhibit costs 5 euros and reservations can be made by through the website www.vaticanlibrary.va.