The Municipal Library of Porto ( pt, Biblioteca Pública Municipal do Porto) is a library located in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of Bonfim,

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

district of the same name.

History

The ''Real Biblioteca do Porto'' (''Royal Library of Porto'') was established on 9 July 1833, by decree of the King D.

Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

and endorsed by Cândido José Xavier (Minister/Secretary of State for Affairs of the Kingdom). The library was initially installed in 1841 in the ''Hospício de Santo António do Vale da Piedade'', in the ''Praça do Cordoaria'' and later the Episcopal Palace of Porto. In 1842 it finally moved to the Convent of Santo António da Cidade hospice, next to the Garden of São Lázaro, along ''Rua D. João IV''. The first librarian was appointed by the Minister Inspector, with the first books being collected from the former libraries of the convents and religious institutions of the Diocese. The first books in the library were 16 manuscript volumes which had been heavily used for the time. They were supplemented by collections from various wealthy private book collectors. According to

Alexandre Herculano Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araújo (28 March 181013 September 1877) was a Portuguese novelist and historian. Early life Herculano's family had humble origins. One of his grandfathers was a foreman stonemason in the royal employ. Herculan ...

, the library initially consisted of 36,000 volumes and 300 manuscript codices. By 1842, the library consisted of 24,256 works (47,322 volumes) and some 4200 volumes from the former convents in

Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,533, in an area of 149.03 km². The urbanized area of Vila do Conde, which includes the parishes of Vila do Conde, Azurar ...

and others. At that time, the first printed catalogs from the library began appearing at the time. In 1877, the collection of rare manuscripts was enriched by the legacy of the Count of Azevedo. This institution was transformed into a municipal library by decree on 27 January 1876, promulgated by King D. Luís I (signed by

António Rodrigues Sampaio António Rodrigues Sampaio (São Bartolomeu do Mar, Esposende, 25 July 1806 — Sintra, 13 September 1882) was a Portuguese politician and the President of the Council of Ministers The President of the Council of Ministers (sometimes titled Cha ...

and former-municipal president Francisco Pinto Bessa). Between 1929 and 1932, Hispano-Moorish azulejos from the Convent of Santa Clara, in Vila do Conde were moved to the public library. Biblioteca Municipal do Porto interior

References

External links

Page at IPPAR
{{coord, 41.1461, -8.6017, type:landmark_region:PT, display=title Libraries in Portugal 1833 establishments in Portugal Buildings and structures in Porto Libraries established in 1833