The National Central Library of Florence ( it, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, BNCF) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

national library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, o ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, the largest in Italy and one of the most important in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, one of the two central libraries of Italy, along with the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma.

History

The library was founded in 1714 when scholar

Antonio Magliabechi Antonio di Marco Magliabechi (or Magliabecchi; 29 October 1633 - 4 July 1714) was an Italian librarian, scholar and bibliophile. Biography He was born at Florence, the son of a burgher named Marco Magliabechi, and Ginevra Baldorietta. Although ...

bequeathed his entire collection of books, encompassing approximately 30,000 volumes, to the city of Florence. By 1743, it was required that a copy of every work published in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

be submitted to the library. Originally known as the Magliabechiana, the library was opened to the public in 1747. Its holdings were combined with those of the in 1861, and by 1885, the library had been renamed as the National Central Library of Florence, or the BNCF. Since 1870, the library has collected copies of all Italian publications. Since 1935, the collections have been housed in a building designed by Cesare Bazzani and V. Mazzei, located along the

Arno River The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a s ...

in the quarter of Santa Croce. Before this, they were found in various rooms belonging to the

Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

. The National Library System (SBN), located in the BNCF, is responsible for the automation of library services and the indexing of national holdings. Unfortunately, a major flood of the Arno River in 1966 damaged nearly one-third of the library's holdings, most notably its periodicals and Palatine and Magliabechi collections. The Restoration Center was subsequently established and may be credited with saving many of these priceless artifacts. However, much work remains to be done and some items are forever lost.

Thesaurus

The library curates the

Nuovo soggettario The Nuovo soggettario is a subject indexing system managed and implemented by the National Central Library of Florence (Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firenze, BNCF), that in Italy has the institutional task to curate and develop the subject inde ...

, a "subject indexing tool for various types of resources".

Gallery

Exteriors

File:Firenze-bibliotecanazionale.jpg, Arno river facade File:BNCF 6.JPG, The library beside Santa Croce File:BNCF 7.JPG, The rotunda

Interiors

Image:BNCF, sala prestito 02.JPG, The distribution hall Image:BNCF, sala ricerche.JPG, The catalogues room Image:BNCF, sala lettura 05.JPG, The reading room Image:BNCF, tribuna cupola 01.JPG, The ''

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

's''

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

Manuscripts

Image:Offiziolo - L'eterno e gli eremiti.jpg, Giovannino de' Grassi, ''The eternal and the hermits'', from the

Gian Galeazzo Visconti Gian Galeazzo Visconti (16 October 1351 – 3 September 1402), was the first duke of Milan (1395) and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He also ruled Lombardy jointly with his uncle Bernabò. He was the foundi ...

Breviary A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such a ...

. Image:Offiziolo - Sposalizio della vergine.JPG, Giovannino de' Grassi, ''Marriage of the Virgin'', from the

. File:National Library manuscripts being washed in Florence after the 1966 flood of the Arno - UNESCO - PHOTO 0000001407 0001 - Restoration.jpg, Manuscripts from the National Library being washed and dried in the boiler room of

Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station Firenze Santa Maria Novella (in English Florence Santa Maria Novella) or Stazione di Santa Maria Novella is a terminus railway station in Florence, Italy. The station is used by 59 million people every year and is one of the busiest in Ital ...

, after the November 1966 flood

Notes

References

* 1886- *

External links

* {{Authority control 1714 establishments in Italy Culture in Florence Culture of Tuscany Deposit libraries Government buildings in Italy History of Florence Libraries in Florence Library buildings completed in 1935

de:Italienische Nationalbibliothek#Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (BNCF)