The right to be called the smallest sovereign state is enjoyed by the Vatican - its territory does not exceed 45 hectares. Despite this, the city has its own railway connection. The Italian embassy in this country, like most other diplomatic institutions of foreign countries, is located on foreign territory, in Rome.
In general, the city is full of contradictions. The density here is lower than in Moscow, and the number of soldiers per inhabitant is three times greater than in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. For more than 45 years, the country has had a zero birth rate, and the last baby born did it in St. Peter's Square, after which both the mother and the newborn were immediately expelled to Italy: there is no maternity hospital on this side of the border, and citizenship is not given by birthright.
The Holy See has its own Internet domain va. with a closed registration, and the local post office enjoys tremendous popularity: a record number of letters are sent from the Vatican index annually. Are you already curious? Then we offer a look at a selection of interesting facts about the Vatican.
The richest country in the world without a tax system
An independent city-state, similar to the Greek polis, the Vatican has an area of 441,000 square meters, which is only twice the size of the Luzhniki sports complex and 25 times smaller than the Marfino metropolitan area. The perimeter of the borders is 32 kilometers.
They print their own stamps and mint euro coins with a unique design, make passports and license plates, publish newspapers, even have their own radio station and television studio, not to mention the flag and anthem.
A significant share of the revenue side of the budget is made up of stamps, coins and other souvenirs, the sale of tickets to museums and mass events. However, this is not all: the Pope owns huge lands in Italy, Spain, in the south of Germany, in Australia and Canada. In addition, the throne invests in securities, being a co-owner of large electric grid companies, chemical, petrochemical and metallurgical concerns.
But in stores within the city walls, everything is 23% cheaper, because here, in fact, there are no taxes, only voluntary tithes (for Catholics - voluntary-forced).
Pope owns a huge telescope in USA
In the summer residence of the Pope in the twenty-odd kilometers from the city, in Castel Gandolfo, there is its own observatory. It has existed since the second half of the XVI century. But a powerful illumination from the Italian capital by the 70s made full-fledged observations impossible, so in 1981 in the city of Tucson, Arizona, a new research center was opened, equipped with a large mirror telescope on Mount Grime.
Among the citizens of the Vatican, only one woman
Since the city is still a state, censuses are regularly conducted here. The last one occurred in 2011, the next one was supposed to take place in 2021, but the coronavirus pandemic intervened. So, a decade ago, the number of inhabitants of the Vatican with citizenship was 594: 71 cardinals, 51 representatives of the priesthood, one nun and 109 guardsmen. The largest public group was 307 diplomatic workers in the status of nuncios and envoys to various courts and governments of the countries of the world.
And the great pontiff himself has no citizenship – can't he write himself a passport?
In the Vatican army, there are only single Swiss
The country's armed forces, known for their armor and bright striped clothing, whose style has remained unchanged since the Renaissance, have been guarding the papal throne since 1506 – it was then that Pope Julius II, Cardinal Della Rovere, hired a company of Swiss to guard himself. Over time, it grew to a regiment. There were other units, for example, the Palatine and Noble Guards, the total number reached two divisions - 22,600 people by 1870. However, shortly after the destruction of the papal states by King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, the three units were reduced to a company each. And John Paul II abolished the Palatine and Noble Guards as relics of the feudal era.
Today, this detachment looks funny, but the soldiers and officers of the unit are perfectly trained and deprived of the right to marry during the service. In addition, they are all Catholics and Swiss citizens – this is a must.
Benito Mussolini had a hand in the creation of the state
With the seizure of the Papal States, a dispute began between the governments in Rome and the Vatican, which lasted to no avail until the late 1920s. The pope even declared himself a prisoner of the Vatican and refused to leave its walls for fear that the Italian kings would finish what he had started.
However, on Feb. 11, 1929, with the ratification of the Lateran Accords, the present status was reached, which allowed the Vatican to gain recognition as a sovereign state and some compensation for lost possessions – $92 million (more than $2 billion with our money). It was this subsidy that allowed the state to take place in the modern world, serving as a kind of initial capital.
On St. Peter's Square stands an Egyptian obelisk
The Emperor of Rome Caligula brought from the ancient Egyptian city of Heliopolis a pylon - a stele carved from a single piece of red granite over three thousand years ago; he was not embarrassed by the weight of over 350 tons and the alien ideological nature of the monument.
The obelisk acquired its current place in St. Peter's Square in 1586, where, in addition to aesthetic, it also plays the role of a gnomon - a sundial of size XXL.
Popes did not live in the Vatican until the fourteenth century
Oddly enough, even after the basilica was built, the main palace of the Roman lords was the Lateran Palace or country residences, and in the period from 1309 to 1377, seven popes of French origin kept their court in the southern French Provencal city of Avignon, which from 1317 was surrounded on all sides by the possessions of the King of France or his relatives.
The Vatican received the status of the official palace of the pontiff only after the Lateran Palace died in a fire. True, before the ruler of the world and the vicar of Christ moved here, it took a colossal repair and cleansing of the territory from wild animals.
