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Vatican Observatory of Castel Gandolfo, Lazio, Italy
The Vatican Observatory is a scientific research institute of the Holy See subject to the Governorate of Vatican City State.
The Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical institutes in the world. Papal interest in astronomy can be traced to Pope Gregory XIII who had the Tower of the Winds built in the Vatican in 1578 and later called on Jesuit astronomers and mathematicians to study the scientific data and implications involved in the reform of the calendar which occurred in 1582. From that time and with some degree of continuity the Holy See has manifested an interest in and support for astronomical research. These early traditions of the Observatory reached their climax in the mid-nineteenth century with research conducted at the Roman College by the famous Jesuit, Father Angelo Secchi, the first to classify stars according to their spectra. With these rich traditions as a basis and in order to counteract the longstanding accusations of hostility of the Church towards science, Pope Leo XIII in his Motu Proprio Ut Mysticam of 14 March 1891 formally refounded the Vatican Observatory and located it on a hillside behind the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica.
http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/altre-istituzioni/specola-vaticana.html