The National Library of Belarus ( be, Нацыянальная бібліятэка Беларусі, Natsyyanal'naya bibliyateka Byelarusi, russian: Национальная библиотека Беларуси, Natsional'naya biblioteka Belarusi) is the biggest library in the

Republic of Belarus A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. The library is located in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, the capital of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. It houses the largest collection of Belarusian printed materials and the third largest collection of books in Russian behind the

Russian State Library The Russian State Library (russian: Российская государственная библиотека, Rossiyskaya gosudarstvennaya biblioteka) is one of the three national libraries of Russia, located in Moscow. It is the largest librar ...

(

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

) and the

Russian National Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...

(

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Building

Construction of the new building started in November 2002 and was completed in January 2006. The library's main architectural component has the shape of a

rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the rhombicuboctahedron, or small rhombicuboctahedron, is a polyhedron with eight triangular, six square, and twelve rectangular faces. There are 24 identical vertices, with one triangle, one square, and two rectangles meeting at ea ...

. The height of the building is 73.6 metres (241.5 feet) and weight is 115 000 tonnes (not including books). The building has 23 floors. The National Library can seat about 2,000 readers and features a 500-seat conference hall. The library's new building was designed by architects Mihail Vinogradov and Viktor Kramarenko and opened on 16 June 2006. The National Library of Belarus is the main information and cultural centre of the country. Its depository collections include about 10 million items of various media.

Observation deck

A special elevator for tourists leading is located on the backside of the building. The library's roof is located on the twenty third floor. The roof has an observation deck equipped with binoculars arranged over the perimeter. Also, there is a cafe and a gallery on the twenty second floor.

Interesting facts

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

donated half a million dollars (it was around 2-3 million) for the construction of the library. * The building is also the subject of an art video by French artist

Raphael Zarka Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

, "Rhombus Sectus", shown at the Bischoff/Weiss gallery,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, in 2011. * The building is featured heavily in the music video ''Discotheque'' (Дискотека) by the Belarusian rock band

Molchat Doma Molchat Doma (russian: Молчат Дома, , Houses Are Silent, ) is a Russian-singing Belarusian post-punk band from Minsk, formed in 2017. Their current lineup consists of Egor Shkutko (vocals), Roman Komogortsev (guitar, synthesizer, drum m ...

, from their album ''

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

''.

References

External links

National Library of Belarus

Emporis Web site

Official photo gallery

Creative studio of the architect Victor Kramarenko

Creative studio of the architect Mihail Vinogradov

Bischoff/Weiss gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Library of Belarus 1922 establishments in Belarus Library buildings completed in 2006

Libraries in Belarus Libraries established in 1922