Near it is situated the Palazzo del Sant' Offizio, or Inqui-
sition. The Congregation of the Inquisition was established in
1542 by Paul III. and this edifice was assigned to it by Pius V.
c. The Vatican Palace.
In the middle ages the residence of the popes was beside the
Lateran. The Vatican Palace was originally a simple dwelling-
house, erected by Symmachus (p. 355) near the anterior court of
the old church of St. Peter, and enlarged by Eugene III. ( 1150),
Cœlestine III., and Innocent III. As the Lateran had been devastated
by a great fire in 1308, Gregory XI., when he restored the papal
abode from Avignon to Rome in 1377, took up his permanent
abode at the Vatican. After the death of Gregory XI. the first con-
clave was held in the Vatican in 1378, which resulted in the schism.
In 1450 Nicholas V. (p. lxvi), with a view to render the Vatican the
largest palace in the world, determined to unite in it all the govern-
ment-offices and residences of the cardinals. On his death he left
behind him an almost completed palace, including a Library
(comp. p. 410), the Appartamento Borgia, and the Stanze, to which
Alexander VI. added the finishing touch in the shape of the so-
called Torre Borgia. In 1473-81 the Sistine Chapel was erected
by Sixtus IV., and in 1486-92 the Belvedere, or garden-house, by
Innocent VIII. Bramante, under Julius II., united the latter with
the palace by means of a great court. The Logge round the Cortile
di San Damaso were also constructed by Bramante. Paul III.
founded the Pauline Chapel in 1540, and Sixtus V. built the
present Library (which divided Bramante's larger court into two
parts, the Cortile di Belvedere and the Giardino della Pigna) and
the present residence of the popes, which last was completed by
Clement VIII. ( 1592-1605). Urban VIII. began the Scala Regia
from Bernini's designs; Pius VI. erected the Sala a Croce Greca,
the Sala Rotonda, and the Sala delle Muse, Pius VII. the
Braccio Nuovo for the sculptures, and Pius IX. closed the fourth
side of the Cortile di San Damaso by covering and reconstructing
the great staircase (Scala Pia) which leads from the arcades of
the piazza into the court. The palace now covers an area of about
13 1/2 acres, of which about 6 are occupied by the 20 courts, and
contains perhaps 1000 halls, chapels, saloons, and private apart-
ments (the common estimate of 11,000 apartments is a mere fable).
By far the greater part of the Vatican is occupied by collections and
state apartments, a comparatively small part of the building being
set apart for the papal court. A law passed by the Italian govern-
ment on 13th March, 1871, but not recognized by the pope, secures
to the Vatican, the Lateran, and the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo
the privilege of exterritoriality.