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Vatican

With a thousand citizens and taking up only half a square kilometer Vatican is the smallest state in the world. This tiny state in the midst of Rome that has been the seat of the Catholic Church and the Pope for centuries. Vatican lacks nothing of what makes a state. It has own post stamps, court of justice, pharmacy, newspapers, radio station...

The Vatican territory includes St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square with the Apostolic Palace, surrounding buildings and the Vatican gardens.

Vatican was named after one of the seven hills on which Rome was built: Vaticanus Mons, which literally means the mount of prophets. It seems likely that there was an oracle on top of the hill in the ancient Rome times.

The first Vatican Christian church was built in 926 in the place of what is believed to have been the grave of St. Peter. It is the same place the St. Peter's Basilica stands in today. In was not earlier than in 1378 that Vatican became to the permanent seat of the Pope. One of the Vatican specifics is the Swiss Guard that hold the function of police in the state. However the guard's function is rather symbolic today.