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The National Library ( pl, Biblioteka Narodowa) is the central Polish library, subject directly to the
Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego) is a governmental administration office concerned with various aspects of Polish culture. It was formed on 31 October 200 ...
. The library collects books, journals, electronic and audiovisual publications published in the territory of Poland, as well as Polonica published abroad. It is the most important humanities research library, the main archive of Polish writing and the state centre of bibliographic information about books. It also plays a significant role as a research facility and is an important methodological center for other Polish libraries. The National Library was one of the first libraries in Europe that fulfilled the tasks of a modern national library in developing collections covering the entire body of Polish literature and making available to the public. Literature and making those works accessible to the public receives a copy of every book published in Poland as
legal deposit Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposit ...
. The
Jagiellonian Library Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...
is the only other library in Poland to have a
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 ...
status.


Organizational structure

There are three general sections: * The Library * The Bibliographic Institute of the National Library * The Book and Readership Institute


History

The National Library's history has origins in the 18th century (
Załuski Library The Załuski Library ( pl, Biblioteka Załuskich, la, Bibliotheca Zalusciana) established in Warsaw in 1747 by Józef Andrzej Załuski and his brother, Andrzej Stanisław Załuski, both Roman Catholic bishops, was a public library nationalized a ...
) including items from the collections of
John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobie ...
which were obtained from his grand daughter
Maria Karolina Sobieska Maria Karolina Sobieska (25 November 1697 – 8 May 1740) was a Polish noblewoman, daughter of Jakub Ludwik Sobieski. Known as Marie Charlotte or only Charlotte, she was the Princess of Turenne and later Duchess of Bouillon by marriage. Charlo ...
, Duchess of Bouillon. However, the Załuski collection was confiscated by troops of Russian tsarina
Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...
in the aftermath of the
second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the Polish–Russian War ...
and sent to
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 ...
, where the books formed the mass of the
Imperial Public 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 ...
on its formation in 1795.Czechowicz, ¶ "After the fall..."Witt, ¶ "The Dispersal of the collection"Basbanes, p. 185 Parts of the collection were damaged or destroyed as they were mishandled while being removed from the library and transported to Russia, and many were stolen. According to the historian
Joachim Lelewel Joachim Lelewel (22 March 1786 – 29 May 1861) was a Polish historian, geographer, bibliographer, polyglot and politician. Life Born in Warsaw to a Polonized German family, Lelewel was educated at the Imperial University of Vilna, where in 18 ...
, the Zaluskis' books, "could be bought at
Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...
by the basket". Because of that, when Poland regained her independence in 1918, there was no central institution to serve in the capacity of a national library. On 24 February 1928, by the decree of president
Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...
, the National Library was created in its modern form. It was opened in 1930 and initially had 200 thousand volumes. Its first Director General was Stefan Demby, succeeded in 1934 by Stefan Vrtel-Wierczyński. The collections of the library were rapidly extended. For instance, in 1932 president Mościcki donated all of the books and manuscripts from the Wilanów Palace Museum to the library, some 40 thousand volumes and 20 thousand pictures from the collection of
Stanisław Kostka Potocki Count Stanisław Kostka Potocki (; November 1755 – 14 September 1821) was a Polish nobleman, politician, writer, public intellectual and patron of the arts. Life Potocki was a son of General and starost of Lwów, Eustachy Potocki and An ...
. Initially the National Library lacked a seat of its own. Because of that, the collections had to be accommodated in several places. The main
reading room Reading room may refer to: * Reference library * British Museum Reading Room * Christian Science Reading Room image:5054_christian-science-reading-room-e.jpg, 400px, A typical storefront Christian Science Reading Room on the main street of a subu ...
was located in the newly built library building of the
Warsaw School of Economics SGH Warsaw School of Economics ( pl, Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie, ''SGH''Potocki Palace in Warsaw became home for the special collections. A new, purpose-built building for the library was planned in what is now the
Pole Mokotowskie Pole may refer to: Astronomy *Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets *Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...
, in a planned monumental "Government District". However, its construction was hampered by the outbreak of World War II. Before World War II, the library collections consisted of: * 6.5 million books and journals from 19th and 20th centuries * 3,000 early prints * 2,200
incunables In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 150 ...
* 52,000 manuscripts * maps, icons and music In 1940 the Nazi occupants changed the National Library into Municipal Library of Warsaw and divided it as follows: * Department of Books for Germans (located in the Warsaw University building) * Restricted Department, containing books that were not available to readers (located in the then main seat of the library—the School of Economics) * All special collections from various Warsaw offices and institutions (located in the
Krasiński Library Krasiński Library (''Biblioteka Krasińskich w Warszawie'') was a library in Warsaw, founded in 1844. During the German invasion and occupation of Poland, part of the building was destroyed and its collections were stolen, redistributed, or burn ...
) In 1944 the special collections were set ablaze by the Nazi occupants as a part of repressions after the
Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...
.Knuth, p. 166 This caused the destruction of 80,000 early printed books, including priceless 16th–18th century Polonica, 26,000 manuscripts, 2,500 incunables, 100,000 drawings and engravings, 50,000 pieces of sheet music and theatre materials. It is estimated that out of over six million volumes in Warsaw's major libraries in 1939, 3.6 million volumes were lost during World War II, a large part of them belonging to the National Library.Mężyński, p. 296Balcerzak, p. 4


Collections

Today the collections of the National Library are one of the largest in the country. Among 7,900,000 volumes (2004) held in the library are 160,000 objects printed before 1801, over 26,000 manuscripts (including 6,887 music manuscripts), over 114,000 music prints and 400,000 drawings. The library collections also include photographs and other iconographic documents, more than 101,000 atlases and maps, over 2,000,000 ephemera, as well as over 2,000,000 books and about 800,000 copies of journals from the 19th to 21st centuries. Notable items in the collection include 151 leaves of the ''
Codex Suprasliensis The Codex Suprasliensis is a 10th-century Cyrillic literary monument, the largest extant Old Church Slavonic canon manuscript and the oldest Slavic literary work in Poland. As of September 20, 2007, it is on UNESCO's Memory of the World list. The ...
'', which was inscribed in UNESCO's
Memory of the World Programme Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
Register in 2007 in recognition for its supranational and supraregional significance.UNESCO, ¶ "The codex was written..." In 2012 the library signed an agreement to add 1.3 million Polish library records to
WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
.


Illuminated Manuscripts

The Catalogue of the Archbishops of Gniezno and Lives of the Bishops of Cracow by Jan Długosz is a 16th-century manuscript illuminated by Stanislaw Samostrzelnik between 1531 and 1535. Today it resides in the collection of the National Library in Warsaw. A selection of illuminated Breviary pages from various unknown miniaturists working in and around Paris, Bruges and Gent in the middle of the 15th century. A breviary (from Latin brevis, 'short' or 'concise') is a liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office. The Illuminated Sketchbook of Stephan Schriber (1494). Text was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
license.


Autographs Collection

Autographs are an important part of the library's collection. They include items from 19th-century romantic poets, 16th and 18th century philosophers, and many Nobel Prize-winning authors. List of notable people from the collection: *
Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish writer, novelist, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, especi ...
(novelist) *
Władysław Reymont Władysław Stanisław Reymont (, born Rejment; 7 May 1867 – 5 December 1925) was a Polish novelist and the 1924 laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known work is the award-winning four-volume novel '' Chłopi'' (''The Peasant ...
(novelist) *
Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...
(poet) *
Juliusz Słowacki Juliusz Słowacki (; french: Jules Slowacki; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of mode ...
(poet) *
Cyprian Norwid Cyprian Kamil Norwid, a.k.a. Cyprian Konstanty Norwid (; 24 September 1821 – 23 May 1883), was a nationally esteemed Polish poet, dramatist, painter, and sculptor. He was born in the Masovian village of Laskowo-Głuchy near Warsaw. One of h ...
(poet) *
Erasmus of Rotterdam Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...
(philosopher) *
Georg Wilhelm Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
(philosopher) National Library of Poland. (2016). (rep.). ''Libraries in Poland''. Warsaw.https://ksiegarnia.bn.org.pl/pdf/Libraries%20in%20Poland.pdf


Musical Documents

The National Library houses the
Fryderyk Chopin The Fryderyk is the annual award in Polish music. Its name refers to the original Polish spelling variant of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin's first name. Its status in the Polish public can be compared to the American Grammy and the UK's B ...
manuscript collection, the largest collection of the composer's work. It also holds works from other important composers such as
Józef Elsner Józef Antoni Franciszek Elsner (sometimes ''Józef Ksawery Elsner''; baptismal name, ''Joseph Anton Franz Elsner''; 1 June 176918 April 1854) was a composer, music teacher, and music theoretician, active mainly in Warsaw. He was one of the firs ...
,
Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 6 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early works show the inf ...
,
Grażyna Bacewicz Grażyna Bacewicz Biernacka (; 5 February 1909 – 17 January 1969) was a Polish composer and violinist. She is the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the ...
,
Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyman ...
and
Krzysztof Komeda Krzysztof Trzciński (27 April 1931 – 23 April 1969), known professionally as Krzysztof Komeda, was a Polish film music composer and jazz pianist. Perhaps best known for his work in film scores, Komeda wrote the scores for Roman Polanski’s f ...
.


See also

* Digital Library of the National Library of Poland * List of libraries damaged during the World War II *
Ossolineum Ossoliński National Institute ( pl, Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, ZNiO), or the Ossolineum is a Polish cultural foundation, publishing house, archival institute and a research centre of national significance founded in 1817 in Lwów (now L ...


Notes


References

* * * * * * * *


External links


National Library website

Polona—National Digital Library

A Commonwealth of Diverse Cultures (an exhibition carried out by the National Library)
{{Authority control 1928 establishments in Poland Buildings and structures in Warsaw Deposit libraries Libraries established in 1928 Libraries in Warsaw Library buildings completed in 1930
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
Public libraries in Poland Rebuilt buildings and structures in Poland Research libraries