Vatican sets up dedicated Muslim prayer room at heart of Pope's 500-year-old library

The Vatican Apostolic Library was founded in the 15th century and is thought of as the intellectual epicentre of the Catholic Church.

It boasts around 80,000 manuscripts, 50,000 archival items and almost two million books.

The library's Vice Prefect, Giacomo Cardinali, told Italian outlet La Repubblica: "Muslim scholars asked us for a room with a carpet to pray on, and we gave it to them: we have incredible ancient Korans.

"We are a universal library, with Arabic, Jewish and Ethiopian collections, as well as unique Chinese pieces.

"Years ago, we discovered that we had the oldest medieval Japanese archive outside of Japan."

In addition to the enormous number of texts, the library also contains hundreds of thousands of coins, medals, engravings, and prints.

But despite the openness of the holiest site in Catholicism, the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia takes a much harder stance on inter-faith acceptance.

Islam's holy city receives nine million visitors each year - none of whom are non-Muslims.

Those of other or no faith are strictly prohibited from entering the city under Saudi law.

Non-Muslims found inside the city are subject to heavy fines, imprisonment and deportation.

The origin of the ban is believed to trace back to a verse in the Koran, which reads: “O believers! Indeed, the polytheists are spiritually impure, so they should not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year."

Though the Vatican has no mosques or permanent Muslim residents, the Holy See has regularly hosted Islamic visitors and pilgrims.

Earlier this year, another religious delegation raised eyebrows when King Charles hosted an "Islamic call to prayer" at Windsor Castle.

The King's "Defender of the Faith" moniker was called into question after the first open Iftar in the State Apartments' history.

The event saw over 360 Muslim worshippers attend to break their Ramadan fast.

The free event was organised by the Ramadan Tent Project, a UK charity backed by the Royal Collection Trust.

King Charles, who has long promoted interfaith dialogue, was believed to be "kept aware of" and "supportive" of the gathering.

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