The (National Library of Spain) is the

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, ...

of Spain. It is the largest

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending 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 servic ...

in the country, and one of the largest in the world. Founded in 1711, it is an autonomous agency attached to the Ministry of Culture since 1990. Its headquarters is located on the Paseo de Recoletos in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, sharing the building with the National Archaeological Museum.

History

The library was founded by King Philip V in 1711 as the Royal Library or Palace Public Library. The Royal Letters Patent that he granted, the predecessor of the current legal deposit requirement, made it mandatory for printers to submit a copy of every book printed in Spain to the library. In 1836, the Crown transferred the library to the Ministry of Governance and it was renamed as National Library. A year later, women were allowed access to the library for the first time, after a petition from writer Antonia Gutiérrez was granted by Queen Regent Maria Christina. During the 19th century, confiscations, purchases and donations enabled the National Library to acquire the majority of the antique and valuable books that it currently holds. In 1892, the building was used to host the Historical American Exposition. On 16 March 1896, the National Library opened to the public in the same building in which it is currently housed and included a vast Reading Room on the main floor designed to hold 320 readers. In 1931, the Reading Room was reorganised, providing it with a major collection of reference works, and the General Reading Room was created to cater for students, workers and general readers. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

close to 500,000 volumes were collected by a Confiscation Committee and stored in the National Library to safeguard works of art and books held until then in religious establishments, palaces and private houses. During the 20th century numerous modifications were made to the building to adapt its rooms and repositories to its constantly expanding collections, to the growing volume of material received following the modification to the Legal Deposit requirement in 1958, and to the numerous works purchased by the library. Among this building work, some of the most noteworthy changes were the alterations made in 1955 to triple the capacity of the library's repositories, and those started in 1986 and completed in 2000, which led to the creation of the new building in

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...

and complete remodelling of the building on Paseo de Recoletos, Madrid. In 1986, when Spain's main bibliographic institutions – the National Newspaper Library (''Hemeroteca Nacional''), the Hispanic Bibliographic Institute (''Instituto Bibliográfico Hispánico'') and the Centre for Documentary and Bibliographic Treasures (''Centro del Tesoro Documental y Bibliográfico'') – were incorporated into the National Library, the library was established as the State Repository of Spain's Cultural Memory (''Centro Estatal Depositario de la Memoria Cultural Española''), making all of Spain's bibliographic output on any media available to the Spanish Library System and national and international researchers and cultural and educational institutions. In 1990 it was made an autonomous agency attached to the Ministry of Culture. The Madrid headquarters are shared with the National Archaeological Museum.

The library today

The National Library is Spain's highest library institution and is head of the Spanish Library System. As the country's national library, it is the centre responsible for identifying, preserving, conserving, and disseminating information about Spain's documentary heritage, and it aspires to be an essential point of reference for research into Spanish culture. In accordance with its Articles of Association, passed by Royal Decree 1581/1991 (R.D. 1581/1991) of 31 October 1991, its principal functions are to: * Compile, catalogue, and conserve bibliographic archives produced in any language of the Spanish state, or any other language, for the purposes of research, culture, and information. * Promote research through the study, loan, and reproduction of its bibliographic archive. * Disseminate information on Spain's bibliographic output based on the entries received through the legal deposit requirement. The library's collection consists of more than 26,000,000 items, including 15,000,000 books and other printed materials, 4,500,000 graphic materials, 600,000 sound recordings, 510,000 music scores, more than 500,000 microforms, 500,000 maps, 143,000 newspapers and serials, 90,000 audiovisuals, 90,000 electronic documents, and 30,000 manuscripts. The current director of the National Library is Ana Santos Aramburo, appointed in 2013. Former directors include her predecessors Glòria Pérez-Salmerón (2010–2013) and Milagros del Corral (2007–2010) as well as historian Juan Pablo Fusi (1996–2000) and author Rosa Regàs (2004–2007). Given its role as the legal deposit for the whole of Spain, since 1991 it has kept most of the overflowing collection at a secondary site in

, near

. The National Library provides access to its collections through the following library services: * Guidance and general information on the institution and other libraries. * Bibliographic information about its collection and those held by other libraries or library systems. * Access to its automated catalogue, which currently contains close to 3,000,000 bibliographic records encompassing all of its collections. * Archive consultation in the library's reading rooms. * Interlibrary loans. * Archive reproduction. File:Madrid - Biblioteca Nacional 02.jpg, Stairs and main entrance with monuments to San Isidoro, Alonso Berruguete, Alfonso X el Sabio by José Alcoverro File:Biblioteca Nacional de España (Madrid) 02.jpg, Statue of

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

by Agustí Querol above the library Image:Page of Lay of the Cid.jpg, A page from the manuscript of The Lay of the Cid Image:Menéndez y Pelayo Biblioteca Nacional España.jpg, Statue of Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo in the lobby of the B.N.E. File:Biblioteca Nacional de España en Alcalá de Henares (RPS 10-03-2012).png, Building of the National Library of Spain in

References

External links

Official site

Official web catalog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biblioteca Nacional De Espana 1711 establishments in Spain Libraries in Madrid

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Culture of Spain Buildings and structures in Recoletos neighborhood, Madrid Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Madrid Libraries established in 1711 Deposit libraries World's fair architecture in Spain Philip V of Spain

History

The library today

See also

References

External links