Politically it is a theocracy, a sacerdotal-monarchical state, a little similar to Andorra, ruled by the Bishop of Rome, The Pope.
A treaty, part of the Lateran Accords of 1929, established the creation of the city state. The Holy See, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction which serves as the central point of reference for the Catholic Church around the world, has "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the city-state.
This small area contains some important historical and architectural treasures of the world, encompassing as it does St Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and also The Vatican Museums and libraries, which contain many thousands of documents, sculptures and artworks collected by the Popes over centuries.
I did not follow this up, sometimes I wonder if these lists are legitimate or simply listed hopefully by commercial florists, ;)
I did not begin to hope that in such a tiny enclosed, ubanised area there would remain any identifiable endemic plant for me to use, although, I am sure there would have been, long ago. Vatican City is located in an area already in use in the time of the Roman Republic, a marshy area on the west bank of the Tiber across from the city of Rome. "Vatican" is derived from the name of an earlier Etruscan settlement, Vatica or Vaticum meaning garden, located in the general area, but quite a while back now.
So, I simply decided to go with the flow on this one and use my lily photo. After all, the lily is used extensively as a symbol of Easter and other Christian occasions.
We took a drive to the Derwent Valley last week on a day that started clear and shining, but by lunchtime was overcast and grey...I took some photographs anyway...as one does. Sometimes I think the light is far more interesting on these monochromatic days...
Craft-wise lately, both Chris and I have been working hard with digital images setting up some items for his Etsy store. Checking that these products print accurately and reliably in regard to size, colour etc. has occupied us during this development phase quite extensively...but we have sorted all that out and I am having great fun now putting together pockets, tags, tickets and other bits and pieces for us to include in his packs. In fact, I think I am having too much fun with this, I am amassing a pile of disparate digital items and now I need to focus on themes and tying things together more cohesively...makes me want to undertake some design training...well, almost!
It has been quite time consuming checking the usage of some digital items I have purchased over the years. However, most of these seem to have limited personal usage only, and fair enough too. This means I cannot use them in an item that is produced for sale.
To simplify things and keep well clear of the potential for inadvertent copy right breaches, we have decided to only use our own images, or those from The Graphics Fairy, a wonderful site that allows unlimited use of the purchased (and so many freebie), digital images, plus a great site we found called OpenClipArt which we hope to add to when we finalise some of our own images...
Here are a couple of things I have been playing with...the close computer work has made me realise that my my next optician appointment is more of an issue than I realised...I must call them!