The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma (''Rome National Central Library''), in Rome, is one of two central national libraries of Italy, along with ''

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze The National Central Library of Florence ( it, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, BNCF) is a public national library in Florence, the largest in Italy and one of the most important in Europe, one of the two central libraries of Italy, alon ...

'' in Florence. In total, 9 national libraries exist, out of 46 state libraries. The library's mission is to collect and preserve all the publications in Italy and the most important foreign works, especially those related to Italy, and make them available to anyone. The collection currently includes more than 7,000,000 printed volumes, 2,000

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

, 25,000 ''cinquecentine'' (16th century books), 8,000 manuscripts, 10,000 drawings, 20,000 maps, and 1,342,154 brochures. As of 1990, the catalog of the library has been online, containing information on all printed documents received to the library since that year as well as important collections obtained over time, all titles of periodical publications, and parts of monographic publications, among other notable archived items.

History

The predecessor of the present Biblioteca Nazionale was the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

Bibliotheca Secreta, located at the Jesuit ''Collegio Romano'', where members of the Society of Jesus had been accumulating in Papal Rome an enormous bibliographic and documentary wealth since their order's foundation in 154

As indicated by its name - "Secret Library" - this material was at the time not accessible to the general public, not even to non-Jesuit Catholic clergy. With the Unification of Italy and the

Capture of Rome The Capture of Rome ( it, Presa di Roma) on 20 September 1870 was the final event of the unification of Italy (''Risorgimento''), marking both the final defeat of the Papal States under Pope Pius IX and the unification of the Italian Peninsula ...

in 1870, ending the Catholic Church's Temporal Power, this library was taken over by the new Kingdom of Italy and made into the core of the ''Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma'', inaugurated on 14 March 1876 - to which enormous additional material was subsequently added. In its early years the library remained housed at the original Jesuit premises. One century later the library moved to its present location. The current building was designed by architects Massimo Castellazzi,

Tullio Dell'Anese Tullio Dall'Anese (1909 in Treviso – 2001 in Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Cap ...

and

Annibale Vitellozzi Annibale Vitellozzi (October 26, 1902, in Anghiari – September 16, 1990, in Rome) was an Italian architect, best remembered for his work on the Roma Termini railway station Roma Termini (in Italian, ''Stazione Termini'') is the ...

and opened in January 1975.

Notes

Bibliography

External links

* Libraries in Rome Government of Italy Italian culture Rome 1876 establishments in Italy Libraries established in 1876 Deposit libraries Library buildings completed in 1975 Rome R. XVIII Castro Pretorio {{Italy-struct-stub de:Italienische Nationalbibliothek

History

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links