Pope Leo XIV Celebrates His 71st Birthday with JR Installation at the Vatican Apostolic Library
Pope Leo XIV marked his 71st birthday on Monday by opening the exhibition “AQVA: Catastrophe and Wonder” at the Vatican Apostolic Library in Vatican City, featuring a major installation by French artist JR. JR’s black-and-white work “Diluvium,” nearly 230 feet long, reproduces Gustave Doré’s 1886 illustration of a biblical flood and occupies the exhibition’s inner section; JR told Le Figaro he hoped the “wave on the library” would resonate with libraries worldwide. The pope’s visit was his first to the 15th-century library, where he likened it to a heart defined by opposing movements of contraction and relaxation. The exhibition also includes Barberini Room’s video installation “Undae,” showing a wave in Brazil, and Bill Moran’s typography series “Letterfishes,” and is curated by Don Giacomo Cardinali with Simona De Crescenzo, Francesca Giannetto, and Delio Proverbio. “AQVA: Catastrophe and Wonder” will be open to the public from September 25 to May 14, 2027.
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This story was covered in Icons in Peril, Restitution Wars Escalate