The library was designed by Michelangelo and is an example of Mannerism. It contains approximately 11.000 manuscripts, 2.500 papyri, 43 ostracons (the shell of a pottery vessel, used as writing material, mainly in ancient Egypt and Greece), 566 incunabula, 1,681 prints from the 16th century, and 126,527 prints from the 17th to the 20th century.
