The Miguel de Benavides Library, also known as the University of Santo Tomas Library, is the main

academic library An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution and serves two complementary purposes: to support the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. It is unknown how many academic librar ...

of the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Miguel ...

. The library has been in continuous service and its collection antedates the existence of the university itself.

History

The initial collection of the

's (UST) library came from donations; specifically from the private collections of the institution's founder, Fr.

Miguel de Benavides Miguel de Benavides y Añoza, O.P. (c. 1552 – July 26, 1605) was a Spanish clergyman and sinologist who was the third Archbishop of Manila. He previously served as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia, and was the founder of th ...

and other benefactors including Fr. Diego Soria and Hernando de Los Rios Coronel. Other members of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

also donated books concerning priesthood. UST's academic library was founded on July 24, 1611. It was originally hosted inside the University Building in UST's original campus in

Intramuros Intramuros (Latin for "inside the walls") is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila. Present-day I ...

and later establish presence in other buildings within the campus. Following the destruction of the Intramuros campus, the library moved in to the Main Building at the university's new campus in

Sampaloc, Manila Sampaloc is a district of Manila, Philippines. It is referred to as the University Belt or simply called ''“U-Belt”'' for numerous colleges and universities are found within the district such as the University of Santo Tomas, the oldest exta ...

. The library moved in to a dedicated building in 1989. On October 29, 1989, the UST Central Library Building was inaugurated. The UST Central Library adopted its current name in 2008 in honor of Miguel de Benavides.

Collection

The Miguel de Benavides Library hosts centuries-old publications some of which are accessible online through the UST Digital Library. The library is also in possession of the UST Baybayin Documents, two documents written in

baybayin (, ''pre-kudlít'': , ''virama-krus-kudlít'': , ''virama-pamudpod'': ; also formerly commonly incorrectly known as alibata) is a Philippine script. The script is an abugida belonging to the family of the Brahmic scripts. Geographically, it ...

script, which has been declared as a

National Cultural Treasure National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

by the

National Archives of the Philippines The National Archives of the Philippines ( fil, Pambansang Sinupan ng Pilipinas and abbreviated NAP) is an agency of the Republic of the Philippines mandated to collect, store, preserve and make available archival records of the Government and ot ...

in 2014. The Antonio Vivencio del Rosario UST Heritage Library, a section at the main library, houses over 30,000 ancient volumes published between 1492 and 1900. It is the largest, oldest, and best-preserved collection of ancient books in the Philippines. It is named after Antonio Vivencio del Rosario, a former secretary general of the university (1854-1866). The heritage library collections include '' La Guerra Judaica'' (1492) by Josephus Flavius, ''

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ''De revolutionibus orbium coelestium'' (English translation: ''On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres'') is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) of the Polish Renaissance. The book, ...

'' (1543) of

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic Church, Catholic cano ...

, ''

Doctrina Christiana The ''Doctrina Christiana'' ( eng, Christian Doctrine) was an early book on the catechism of the Catholic Church, written in 1593 by Fray Juan de Plasencia, and is believed to be one of the earliest printed books in the Philippines. Title Sp ...

'' (1593), and the first edition printed copies of '' Noli Me Tangere'' and '' El Filibusterismo'' of

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national he ...

. In collaboration with Unionbank, the library was able to conserve, digitize, and publish the university collections.

Gallery

File:Santo tomas libreria.jpg, Library of the Santo Tomás University in Manila, 1887 File:MigueldeBenavidesLibraryjf0474 09.JPG, Hallway

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miguel De Benavides Library, University Of Santo Tomas University of Santo Tomas Academic libraries in the Philippines Libraries in Metro Manila Educational structures in Metro Manila Buildings and structures in Sampaloc, Manila Research libraries