Pope Leo XIV unveils giant wave for new water exhibition at Vatican Library

Pope Leo XIV inaugurated AQVA – Catastrophe and Wonder on Monday, 14 September. Visitors enter through Diluvium , a 70-metre-long installation by French street artist JR , the first site-specific work commissioned for the exterior of the 16th-century library. Inside, art and rare books explore water as both a source of life and a force of destruction. Works by American typographer Bill Moran and Italian chef Fulvio Pierangelini are shown alongside Aquatilium animalium historiae , a 16th-century study of fish and aquatic animals by Italian naturalist Ippolito Salviani , published 470 years ago. The exhibition also examines the damage water can cause to ancient manuscripts and the role it can play in their restoration.