Gifts and Awards
Over the years, the Vatican Observatory has received many gifts and awards. Some of the more unusual ones are displayed here Most are self-explanatory, except for the various medals:
Medal issued in honor of Cassini’s studies at the University of Bologna
Medal from Padua in honor of the 8th century anniversary of the birth of its patron, St. Anthony
Medal issued in 1980 in preparation for the 300th anniversary of Newton’s Principia
Silver medal struck in honor of Angelo Secchi. “light as an industrious blind traveler from the depths of space [with] precious news”
Medal commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1879 death of Angelo Secchi
Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s Donohoe Comet Medal, to Br. Matteo Timmers, for Comet Timmers, 1946
Medal commemorating the inauguration of the VATT 1993
Medal given to the Specola Vaticana in 1894 by the Photography Circle of Lombardy “for assorted astronomical photographs”
Stamp of the seal of Pope Pius XII
1937 commemorative medal for Carl August von Steinheil on the the centenary of his telegraph and first photographs, Munich
