![0-2016-05-14 bibioteca braidense-sala-maria-teresa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/0-2016-05-14_bibioteca_braidense-sala-maria-teresa.jpg)
The or Braidense National Library, usually known as the Biblioteca di Brera, is a
public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants.
There are ...
in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, in northern Italy. It is one of the largest libraries in Italy. Initially it contained large historical and scientific collections before it was charged with the
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 ...
of all publications from Milan. Since 1880, it has had the status of 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 ...
and is today one of the 47 Italian State libraries.
["Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense"]
''www.braidense.it''. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
History
The library was created in 1770 by
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
of Austria when she decided to make the collection she had acquired from Carlo Pertusati available to the public. The library was opened in 1786 in the
Brera Palazzo del Collegio which had been taken over by the State following the dissolution of the
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
in 1773. In addition to the Pertusati collection, the library also contained the holdings of the Collegio Braidense and of the Jesuit houses of San Fedele and San Girolamo.
Thereafter the library benefitted from various private collections and from the libraries of other religious orders which had been dissolved as well as duplicates from the
Imperial Library in Vienna. From 1788, the collection was enhanced by adding publications received under
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 ...
regulations which covered works published in the
State of Milan. As a result, the Braidense became the regional legal deposit archive for
Lombardy
Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...
.
In 1880, the Braidense was given the status of
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 ...
.
The premises
![Milan - Pinacothèque de Brera - Cour intérieure](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Milan_-_Pinacoth%C3%A8que_de_Brera_-_Cour_int%C3%A9rieure.jpg)
The library is located in the
Palazzo di Brera, an imposing building constructed by the Jesuits in the 17th century. In addition to the library, it is also home to the
Brera Art Gallery, the
Brera Astronomical Observatory
The Brera Observatory ( it, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera) is an astronomical observatory in the Brera district of Milan, Italy. It was built in the historic Palazzo Brera in 1764 by the Jesuit astronomer Roger Boscovich. Following the suppre ...
, the
Brera Botanical Gardens, the Lombard Institute of Science and Letters and the
Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Since 2003, it has also housed the
Archivio Storico Ricordi, the historical records of the
Ricordi
Ricordi may refer to:
People
*Giovanni Ricordi (1785–1853), Italian violinist and publishing company founder
*Giulio Ricordi (1840–1912), Italian publisher and musician
Music
*Casa Ricordi, an Italian music publishing company established in ...
classical music publishing company.
Among the library's facilities are the Maria Teresa Hall with bookshelves designed by the architect
Giuseppe Piermarini
Giuseppe Piermarini (; 18 July 1734 – 18 February 1808) was an Italian architect who trained with Luigi Vanvitelli in Rome and designed the Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1776–78), which remains the work by which he is remembered. Indeed, "il ...
, the Reading Room which was originally used by the Jesuits, the Research Reading Room with some 35,000 books, the Sala Manzoniana with manuscripts, correspondence and editions of the Italian romantic writer
Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...
and the Catalogue Room, formerly the tailors' room in the Palazzo di Brera.
[
]
The collections
Since the beginning, the Braidense was designed as a general library. The collections consisted of illuminated choral works, historical, literary, theological and legal publications as well as extensive general reference works.
Initially the State Congregation for Lombardy formed the nucleus of the library from the collections of Count Carlo Pertusati Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to:
*Carlo (name)
*Monte Carlo
*Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...
obtained 1765), assembled as a public library in 1770 by Maria Theresa, princess of Austria. In 1773, the dissolution of the Jesuits
The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
, allowed the library to acquire the collections of the Palazzo of the Collegio Gesuitico di Brera, built in the area of the 13th century convent of the Umiliati. The site was chosen to host the library in 1786. The library also joined to this the Jesuit collections from the Collegio Braidense, and from San Fedele and San Girolamo. In 1778, the collection of the Bernese physician Albrecht von Haller
Albrecht von Haller (also known as Albertus de Haller; 16 October 170812 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave, he is often referred to as "the fa ...
, rich in botanical, medical, and scientific texts, was obtained. In the next years, the collections of colonel Baschiera, and a portion of the library of Count Firmian, some of which he had acquired from Giuseppe Beltramelli
Giuseppe Beltramelli (15 May 1734 – 1816) was an Italian scholar and art collector.
He was born to an aristocratic family in Bergamo. He studied in the Jesuit college of Bologna, and studied design under Domenico Fratta, a member of the Accadem ...
. In 1788, a law required all works (books and pamphlets) published in Lombardy were required to send a copy sent to the library. In 1793, this was expanded to legal edicts and documents. The collections of the Collegio dei Giureconsulti were added during the French occupation, and the Scaccerni collection was donated by Francesco Melzi
Francesco Melzi, or Francesco de Melzi (1491–1570), was an Italian painter born into a family of the Milanese nobility in Lombardy. He became a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci and remained as his closest professional assistant throughout his career. ...
. In 1795, the legacy from Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini
Angelo Maria Durini (29 May 1725 – 28 April 1796) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman-Catholic Church.
Durini was born in Milan. After studying in Rome and receiving the grade of a doctor, he worked in the papal nunciature in Paris. He was ...
containing some 3,000 works including valuable 16th century Greek and Latin editions.
During the 19th-century, the library acquired collections from Hermes Visconti
Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orators ...
, the Numismatic Cabinet, the Bodonian, the Mortara, the Lattes (works of Jewish culture), Viesseux miscellanea and from Cesare Correnti
Cesare Correnti (January 3, 1815 – October 4, 1888) was an Italian revolutionary and politician.
Life
He was born in Milan of a poor but noble family. While employed in the public debt administration, he flooded Lombardy with revolutionary pamph ...
. In 1889 the theatre collection of Lauro Corniani Algarotti was donated by De Capitani D'Arzago. That year it bought at auction, the library of Carlo Morbio (1811-1881), including 156 codices from the librarian Ackerman of Leipzig. In 1885, the manuscripts and library of Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...
was donated in 1885. In the 20th-century, the library acquired the Novati library, the liturgical library of the Duchy of Parma, the chess collection, the Castiglioni collection and the photographic collection of Emilio Sommariva
Emilio Sommariva (8 December 1883 – 12 September 1956) was an Italian painter and photographer.
Biography
Sommariva was born in Lodi, Itaiy. His father, Luigi, was an amateur painter and photographer himself. The Sommariva family moved to Mil ...
.
The Braidsense has always has the dual role of both the preservation of historical and literary works and of maintaining its collection of all books published in Milan. It currently has 898,377 printed volumes, 2,119 manuscripts and 2,368 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 ...
.Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività culturali - Ufficio Statistica
See also
*
Neoclassical architecture in Milan
Neoclassical architecture in Milan encompasses the main artistic movement from about 1750 to 1850 in this northern Italian city. From the final years of the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria, through the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Napoleonic K ...
*
National Central Library (Florence)
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 ...
*
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma
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'' in Florence. In total, 9 national libraries exist, ...
*
Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III
The Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III (''Victor Emmanuel III National Library'') is a national library of Italy. It occupies the eastern wing of the 18th-century Royal Palace (Naples), Palazzo Reale in Naples, at 1 Piazza del Plebiscito, ...
*
Turin National University Library
The National University Library (''Biblioteca nazionale universitaria'' in Italian) in Turin, Italy, is one of the country's main libraries.
It was founded in 1720 as the Royal University Library by Victor Amadeus II, who unified collections from ...
*
Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
The Marciana Library or Library of Saint Mark ( it, italic=no, Biblioteca Marciana, but in historical documents commonly referred to as ) is a public library in Venice, Italy. It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositorie ...
References
Bibliography
* Aurelio Aghemo, ''La Biblioteca nazionale Braidense'', "Biblioteche Oggi", Milan, Ed. Bibliografica, n. 8, October 2008, pp. 15–20.
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Libraries in Milan
History of Milan
Government buildings in Italy
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
1770 establishments in Europe
Deposit libraries