HP Helps Vatican Post Biblical Material Online

Hewlett-Packard Co. and the Holy See are working together and have placed selected treasures from the Vatican's Apostolic Library on the Internet.

Scans of ancient Bible texts, rare works of art and handwritten letters from Michelangelo and Martin Luther were chosen by Vatican officials for the site debut. The collection previously had been open only to scholars and church officials.

Vatican officials selected items to place on the site from among the library's vast collection of nearly 2 million printed volumes, including 8,000 printed before 1500, 75,000 manuscripts and hundreds of thousands of coins and medals. HP's contribution included technical consulting along with donated computer servers, scanners and other hardware items.