The Russian State Children's Library, also called the RGDB, is the world's largest

Children's library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, located in the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

capital of

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 ...

. The library receives 45,000 visitors a year and 1.2 million online visitors annually. As of 2019, the Russian State Children's Library has over 560,000 books in its collection, in addition to other materials.

History

The building was established in December 1969, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019. Vladimir Putin congratulated the library's anniversary. The Library runs a

cultural exchange Cultural diplomacy is a type of public diplomacy and soft power that includes the "exchange of ideas, information, art, language and other aspects of culture among nations and their peoples in order to foster mutual understanding". The purpose ...

project called ''Hello, Neighbour!'' that seeks to introduce

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

to other cultures. In 2019, the Emirati Kalimat Foundation for Children’s Empowerment donated large numbers of

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

children's books to the library as part of a

program with

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, and in 2020, the library hosted an online "Fabulous

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

" initiative about

Azerbaijani culture Azerbaijani culture may refer to: Regions *Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ( az, Azərbaycan mədəniyyəti) combines a diverse and heterogeneous set of elements which developed under the influence of Turkic, Iranic and Cauc ...

and traditions. The RGDB held a "Draw Egypt" contest in October 2020 in which Russian children submitted drawings of what they thought

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

must be like.

Russian President The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

and First Lady of the United States Laura Bush visited the library together in 2002.

References

{{authority control 1969 establishments in Russia Children's libraries Libraries established in 1969 Libraries in Moscow Russian children's literature