The (; BnF) 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, ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, located in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including books and manuscripts but also precious objects and artworks, are on display at the

BnF Museum The BnF Museum or Museum of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, formerly known as the Cabinet des Médailles (), is a significant art and history museum in Paris. It displays collections of the ''Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiq ...

(formerly known as the ) on the Richelieu site. The National Library of France is a public establishment under the supervision of the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

. Its mission is to constitute collections, especially the copies of works published in France that must, by law, be deposited there, conserve them, and make them available to the public. It produces a reference catalogue, cooperates with other national and international establishments, as well as participates in research programs.

History

The National Library of France traces its origin to the royal library founded at the

Louvre Palace The Louvre Palace (, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxe ...

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...

in 1368. Charles had received a collection of manuscripts from his predecessor,

John II John II may refer to: People * John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499) * John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672) * John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302) * John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318) * John II Komnenos (1087–114 ...

, and transferred them to the Louvre from the

Palais de la Cité The Palais de la Cité (), located on the Seine River's Île de la Cité, is a major historic building in the centre of Paris, France. It was an occasional residence of the Kings of France from the early 6th to the 12th century and a permanent one ...

. The first librarian of record was Claude Mallet, the king's valet de chambre, who made a sort of catalogue, ''Inventoire des Livres du Roy nostre Seigneur estans au Chastel du Louvre''. Jean Blanchet made another list in 1380 and Jean de Bégue one in 1411 and another in 1424. Charles V was a patron of learning and encouraged the making and collection of books. It is known that he employed

Nicholas Oresme Nicole Oresme (; ; 1 January 1325 – 11 July 1382), also known as Nicolas Oresme, Nicholas Oresme, or Nicolas d'Oresme, was a French philosopher of the later Middle Ages. He wrote influential works on economics, mathematics, physics, astrology, ...

, , and others to transcribe ancient texts. At the death of Charles VI, this first collection was unilaterally bought by the English regent of France, the

Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 for Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of Fran ...

, who transferred it to England in 1424. It was apparently dispersed at his death in 1435. Charles VII did little to repair the loss of these books, but the invention of printing resulted in the starting of another collection in the Louvre inherited by

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the ...

in 1461. Charles VIII seized a part of the collection of the kings of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

Louis XII Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), also known as Louis of Orléans was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples (as Louis III) from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his second ...

, who had inherited the library at

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

, incorporated the latter into the ''Bibliothèque du Roi'' and further enriched it with the Gruthuyse collection and with plunder from

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. Francis I transferred the collection in 1534 to

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

and merged it with his private library. During his reign, fine bindings became the craze and many of the books added by him and

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

are masterpieces of the binder's art. Under librarianship of

Jacques Amyot Jacques Amyot (; 30 October 15136 February 1593), French Renaissance bishop, scholar, writer and translator, was born of poor parents, at Melun. Biography Amyot found his way to the University of Paris, where he supported himself by serving som ...

, the collection was transferred to Paris and then relocated on several occasions, a process during which many treasures were lost. Henry IV had it moved to the

Collège de Clermont In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

in 1595, a year after the expulsion of the Jesuits from their establishment. In 1604, the Jesuits were allowed to return and the collection was moved to the

Cordeliers Convent There were several Cordeliers Convents (French: ''Couvent des Cordeliers'') in France. ''Cordeliers'' was the name given in France to the Conventual Franciscans. Cordeliers Convent in Paris The Cordeliers Convent in Paris is located 15 rue de l ...

, then in 1622 to the nearby on the

rue de la Harpe The Rue de la Harpe () is a street in Paris' Latin Quarter. Relatively calm and cobblestoned along much of its length, it runs in a south-easterly direction between the Rue de la Huchette and the Rue Saint-Séverin, where it turns south-west ...

. The appointment of

Jacques Auguste de Thou Jacques Auguste de Thou (sometimes known by the Latin version of his name Thuanus) (8 October 1553, Paris – 7 May 1617, Paris) was a French historian, book collector and president of the Parlement of Paris. Life Jacques Auguste de Thou wa ...

as librarian initiated a period of development that made it the largest and richest collection of books in the world. He was succeeded by his son who was replaced, when executed for treason, by Jérôme Bignon, the first of a line of librarians of the same name. Under de Thou, the library was enriched by the collections of Queen

Catherine de Medici Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II. She was the mother of French kings Fran ...

. The library grew rapidly during the reigns of

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

and

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, due in great part to the interest of Minister

Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...

, himself a dedicated collector of books. The site in the Rue de la Harpe becoming inadequate, the library was again moved, in 1666, to two adjacent houses in Rue Vivienne. After Colbert, Louis XIV's minister Louvois also took interest in the library and employed

Jean Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon , (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabillon w ...

Melchisédech Thévenot Melchisédech or Melchisédec Thévenot (29 October 1692) was a French author, scientist, traveller, cartographer, orientalist, inventor, and diplomat. He was the inventor of the spirit level and is also famous for his popular posthumously publ ...

, and others to procure books from every source. In 1688, a catalogue in eight volumes was compiled. Louvois considered the erection of an opulent building to host it on what would become the

Place Vendôme The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as the Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as the Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madelein ...

, a project that was however left unexecuted following the minister's death in 1691. BNF Richelieu Galerie Mazarin

The library opened to the public in 1692, under the administration of Abbott Camille le Tellier de Louvois, the minister's son. The Abbé Louvois was succeeded by

Jean-Paul Bignon The Abbé Jean-Paul Bignon, Oratory of Jesus, Cong.Orat. (; 19 September 1662, Paris – 14 March 1743, Île Belle) was a French ecclesiastic, statesman, writer and preacher and librarian to Louis XIV of France. His protégé, Joseph Pitton de ...

, who in 1721 seized the opportunity of the collapse of

John Law John Law may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Law (artist) (born 1958), American artist * John Law (comics), comic-book character created by Will Eisner * John Law (film director), Hong Kong film director * John Law (musician) (born 1961) ...

Mississippi Company John Law's Company, founded in 1717 by Scottish economist and financier John Law (economist), John Law, was a joint-stock company that occupies a unique place in French and European monetary history, as it was for a brief moment granted the enti ...

. The company had been relocated by Law into the former palace of

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

around

Hôtel Tubeuf The Hôtel Tubeuf () is the generally used name for a hôtel particulier at 8, rue des Petits-Champs in Paris, France, now part of the ''Site Richelieu'' of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (French National Library). It was successively known ...

, and its failure freed significant space in which the Library would expand (even though the Hotel Tubeuf itself would remain occupied by

French East India Company Compagnie des Indes () may refer to several French chartered companies involved in long-distance trading: * First French East Indies Company, in existence from 1604 to 1614 * French West India Company, active in the Western Hemisphere from 1664 t ...

and later by France's financial bureaucracy until the 1820s). Bignon also instituted a complete reform of the library's system. Catalogues were made which appeared from 1739 to 1753 in 11 volumes. The collections increased steadily by purchase and gift to the outbreak of the French Revolution, at which time it was in grave danger of partial or total destruction, but owing to the activities of Antoine-Augustin Renouard and Joseph Van Praet it suffered no injury. The library's collections swelled to over 300,000 volumes during the radical phase of the French Revolution when the private libraries of aristocrats and clergy were seized. After the establishment of the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted un ...

in September 1792, "the Assembly declared the ''Bibliothèque du Roi'' to be national property and the institution was renamed the ''Bibliothèque Nationale''. After four centuries of control by the Crown, this great library now became the property of the French people." A new administrative organization was established.

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

took great interest in the library and among other things issued an order that all books in provincial libraries not possessed by the ''Bibliothèque Nationale'' should be forwarded to it, subject to replacement by exchanges of equal value from the duplicate collections, making it possible, as Napoleon said, to find a copy of any book in France in the National Library. Napoleon furthermore increased the collections by spoil from his conquests. A considerable number of these books were restored after his downfall. During the period from 1800 to 1836, the library was virtually under the control of Joseph Van Praet. At his death it contained more than 650,000 printed books and some 80,000 manuscripts. Following a series of regime changes in France, it became the Imperial National Library and in 1868 was moved to newly constructed buildings on the

Rue de Richelieu The Rue de Richelieu () is a long street of Paris, starting in the south of the 1st arrondissement at the Comédie-Française and ending in the north of the 2nd arrondissement. For the first half of the 19th century, before Georges-Eugène Hau ...

Henri Labrouste Pierre-François-Henri Labrouste () (11 May 1801 – 24 June 1875) was a French architect from the famous school of architecture. After a six-year stay in Rome, Labrouste established an architectural training workshop, which soon became ...

. Upon Labrouste's death in 1875 the library was further expanded, including the grand staircase and the Oval Room, by academic architect

Jean-Louis Pascal Jean-Louis Pascal (4 June 1837 – 17 May 1920) was an academic French architect. Life Born in Paris, Pascal was taught at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts by Émile Gilbert and Charles-Auguste Questel. He won the Grand P ...

. In 1896, the library was still the largest repository of books in the world, although it has since been surpassed by other libraries for that title. By 1920, the library's collection had grown to 4,050,000 volumes and 11,000 manuscripts. In 2024, the library removed four 19th-century books from its public access, namely two volumes of ''The Ballads of Ireland'' published in 1855, a bilingual anthology of Romanian poetry dating from 1856, and book of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

published between 1862 and 1863, after tests indicated that their covers and bindings were coloured using green pigments containing

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

Richelieu site

The Richelieu site occupies a full city block in Paris, surrounded by

rue de Richelieu The Rue de Richelieu () is a long street of Paris, starting in the south of the 1st arrondissement at the Comédie-Française and ending in the north of the 2nd arrondissement. For the first half of the 19th century, before Georges-Eugène Hau ...

(west),

rue des Petits-Champs ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of the genus '' Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Mediterranean. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for i ...

(south), (east), and (north). There are two entrances, respectively on 58, rue de Richelieu and 5, rue Vivienne. This site was the main location of the library for 275 years, from 1721 to 1996. It now hosts the

as well as facilities of the BnF, the library of the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (in the since 2016), and the library of the

École Nationale des Chartes The École Nationale des Chartes (; ) is a French ''grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the auxiliary sciences of history, historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at the A ...

. It was comprehensively renovated in the 2010s and early 2020s on a design by architects and Virginie Brégal. File:Bibliothèque nationale France Richelieu Louvois Paris 5.jpg, Façade on rue de Richelieu File:BnF Richelieu - préparation de la phase 2 des travaux dans la cour d'honneur.jpg, Main courtyard () File:Richeliey Tubeuf.jpg, Courtyard of former , on rue des Petits-Champs File:Richeliey garden.jpg, Garden bordering rue Vivienne File:Salle Labrouste INHA.jpg, File:La salle ovale du site Richelieu, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris 2022.jpg, File:La salle des colonnes, Musée de la BNF, site Richelieu, Paris 2022.jpg, BnF Museum,

François-Mitterrand site

On 14 July 1988,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

announced "the construction and the expansion of one of the largest and most modern libraries in the world, intended to cover all fields of knowledge, and designed to be accessible to all, using the most modern data transfer technologies, which could be consulted from a distance, and which would collaborate with other European libraries". Due to initial trade union opposition, a

wireless network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking allows homes, telecommunications networks, and business installations to avoid the costly process of introducing cables int ...

was fully installed only in August 2016. In July 1989, the services of the architectural firm of

Dominique Perrault Dominique Perrault (born 9 April 1953 in Clermont-Ferrand) is a French architect and urban planner. He became world known for the design of the French National Library, distinguished with the Silver medal for town planning in 1992 and the Mies v ...

were retained. The design was recognized with the

European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award is a prize given biennially by the European Union and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona,Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the ...

. Construction of the library ran into huge cost overruns and technical difficulties related to its high-rise design, so much so that it was referred to as the "TGB" or "''Très Grande Bibliothèque''" (, a sarcastic allusion to the successful

TGV The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...

high-speed rail system). After the move of the major collections from the

, the National Library of France was inaugurated on 15 December 1996. , the BnF contains roughly 14 million books at its four Parisian sites (Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand, Richelieu,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, and Opéra) as well as printed documents, manuscripts, prints, photographs, maps and plans, scores, coins, medals, sound documents, video and multimedia documents, and scenery elements. The library retains the use of the Rue de Richelieu complex for some of its collections.

Manuscript collection

The Manuscripts department houses the largest collection of medieval and modern manuscripts worldwide. The collection includes medieval

chansons de geste The , from 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th centuries, shortly before the e ...

and

chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of high medieval and early modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalri ...

s, eastern literature, eastern and western religions, ancient history, scientific history, and literary manuscripts by Pascal, Diderot, Apollinaire, Proust, Colette, Sartre, etc. The collection is organised: * according to language (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and other

European languages There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three larges ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, Coptic,

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, Turkish, Near- and Middle-Eastern languages,

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, Tibetan,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, Indian languages,

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

, etc.) **The library holds about 5,000 Ancient Greek manuscripts, which are divided into three ''fonds'': ''Ancien fonds grec'', ''

fonds Coislin Fonds Coislin () is a collection (or fonds) of Greek manuscripts acquired by Pierre Séguier, but named after Henri-Charles de Coislin, its second owner. It is now held in the National Library of France, as one of three fonds of Greek manuscripts: ...

'', and ''Fonds du Supplément grec''. * according to content: learned and bibliophilic, collections of learned materials, Library Archives, genealogical collections, French provinces, Masonic collection, etc.

Digital library

Gallica is the

digital library A digital library (also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, a library without walls, or a digital collection) is an online database of digital resources that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital ...

for online users of the and its partners. It was established in October 1997. Today it has more than six million digitized materials of various types: books, magazines, newspapers, photographs, cartoons, drawings, prints, posters, maps, manuscripts, antique coins, scores, theater costumes and sets, audio and video materials. All library materials are freely available. On 10 February 2010, a digitized copy of ''

Scenes of Bohemian Life ''Scenes of Bohemian Life'' (original French title: ) is a work by Henri Murger, published in 1851. Although it is commonly called a novel, it does not follow standard novel form. Rather, it is a collection of loosely related stories, all set i ...

'' by

Henri Murger Louis-Henri Murger (27 March 1822 – 28 January 1861), also known as Henri Murger and Henry Murger, was a French novelist and poet. He is chiefly distinguished as the author of the 1847-1849 book '' Scènes de la vie de bohème'' (''Scenes ...

(1913) became Gallica's millionth document. In February 2019, the five millionth document was a copy of the manuscript "Record of an Unsuccessful Trip to the West Indies" stored in the Bibliothèque Inguimbertine and on 30 March 2023 the ten millionth document was added. , Gallica had made available online approximately 10 million documents : * 864,428 books * 186,495 manuscripts * 5,804,801 newspapers and magazines issues * 1,792,736 images * 196,486 maps * 64,967 music scores * 52,004 audio recordings * 519,877 objects * 5,585 video recordings Most of Gallica's collections of texts have been converted into text format using

optical character recognition Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronics, electronic or machine, mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo ...

(OCR-processing), which allows full-text search in the library materials. Each document has a digital identifier, the so-called ARK (

Archival Resource Key An Archival Resource Key (ARK) is a multi-purpose URL suited to being a persistent identifier for information objects of any type. It is widely used by libraries, data centers, archives, museums, publishers, and government agencies to provide re ...

) of the National Library of France and is accompanied by a bibliographic description.

List of directors

1369–1792

* 1369–1411: ^{( fr)} * 1522–1540:

Guillaume Budé Guillaume Budé (; Onomastic Latinisation, Latinized as Guilielmus Budaeus; January 26, 1467 – August 20, 1540) was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding of Collegium Trilingue, which later became the Collège de Fra ...

* 1540–1552: Pierre Duchâtel * 1552–1567: * 1567–1593:

* 1593–1617:

Jacques-Auguste de Thou Jacques Auguste de Thou (sometimes known by the Latin version of his name Thuanus) (8 October 1553, Paris – 7 May 1617, Paris) was a French historian, book collector and president of the Parlement of Paris. Life Jacques Auguste de Thou wa ...

* 1617–1642:

François Auguste de Thou François-Auguste de Thou (24 August 1604 - 12 September 1642) was a French magistrate. He was born in Paris, the eldest son of Jacques-Auguste de Thou. In 1617, with the death of his father, he inherited the office of Master of the Bookstore. ...

* 1642–1656: Jérôme Bignon * 1656–1684: * 1560–1604: * 1604–1614:

Isaac Casaubon Isaac Casaubon (; ; 18 February 1559 – 1 July 1614) was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England. His son Méric Casaubon was also a classical scholar. Life Early life He was born in Geneva to two F ...

* 1614–1645: Nicolas Rigault * 1645–1651: Pierre Dupuy * 1651–1656: * 1656–1676: ; Pierre de Carcavi (1663-1683) * 1676–1684: ;

(1684-1691) * 1684–1718: Camille Le Tellier de Louvois; (1691-1712) * 1719–1741:

* 1741–1743: * 1743–1772: Armand-Jérôme Bignon * 1770–1784: ; (from 1775 to 1793) * 1784–1789: Jean-Charles-Pierre Le Noir (démission) * 1789–1792: Louis Le Fèvre d'Ormesson de Noyseau

1792–present

* 1792–1793:

Jean-Louis Carra Jean-Louis Carra (born on 9 March 1742 in Pont-de-Veyle and guillotined on 31 October 1793 in Paris) was a journalist and participant in the French Revolution. He played a key role in the Insurrection of 10 August 1792 that overthrew the monar ...

and

Sébastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, known in his adult life as Nicolas Chamfort and as Sébastien Nicolas de Chamfort (; 6 April 1741 – 13 April 1794), was a French writer, best known for his epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary to Louis XVI's siste ...

^{( fr)} * 1793: (interim) * 1793–1795: Jean Baptiste Lefebvre de Villebrune * 1795–1796: * 1796–1798: * 1798–1799: * 1799–1800:

Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison (19 July 1759 (Paris) – 14 August 1818 Paris) was an antiquary and naturalist erudite in various domains, who succeeded Jean-Jacques Barthélemy as curator of the Cabinet des médailles et antiques of the forme ...

* 1800–1803: Jean-Augustin Capperonnier * 1803–1806: * 1806–1829:

Bon-Joseph Dacier Bon Joseph Dacier ( Valognes, 1 April 1742 – Paris, 4 February 1833) was a French historian, philologist and translator of ancient Greek. He became a Chevalier de l'Empire (16 December 1813), then Baron de l'Empire (29 May 1830). He also serve ...

* 1830–1831: Joseph Van Praet * 1832: Joseph Van Praet * 1832:

Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (; 5 September 1788 – 2 June 1832) was a French sinologist best known as the first Chair of Sinology at the Collège de France. Rémusat studied medicine as a young man, but his discovery of a Chinese herbal treati ...

* 1832–1837:

Jean-Antoine Letronne Jean Antoine Letronne (25 January 1787 – 14 December 1848) was a French archaeologist. Life Letronne was born in Paris. His father, a poor engraver, sent him to study art under the painter David, but his own tastes were literary, and he ...

* 1838–1839: Edmé François Jomard * 1839:

Charles Dunoyer Charles Dunoyer Barthélemy-Charles-Pierre-Joseph Dunoyer de Segonzac (20 May 1786 – 4 December 1862), better known as Charles Dunoyer (), was a French economist of the French Liberal School. Dunoyer gave one of the earliest theories of econom ...

* 1839–1840: Antoine Jean Letronne * 1840–1858:

Joseph Naudet Joseph Naudet (8 December 1786 – 13 August 1878) was a French historian who was a native of Paris. He initially worked at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, and was later a teacher of Latin poetry at the Collège de France. In 1817 he became a ...

* 1858–1874: ; the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

appointed

Élie Reclus Élie Reclus (; July 16, 1827 – February 11, 1904) was a French ethnographer and anarchist. Biography Élie Reclus was the oldest of five brothers, born to a Protestant minister and his wife. His middle three brothers, including the well know ...

(29 April to 24 May 1871) * 1874–1905: Léopold Delisle * 1905–1913: Henry Marcel * 1913–1923:

Théophile Homolle Jean Théophile Homolle (19 December 1848, Paris – 13 June 1925, Paris) was a French archaeologist and classical philologist. Biography From 1869 he studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, receiving his agrégation for history in 1 ...

* 1923–1930: * 1930–1940:

Julien Cain Julien Cain (10 May 1887 – 9 October 1974) was the general administrator of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (then called the Bibliothèque nationale) before the Occupation of France by Nazi Germany. In August 1937, Cain was one of ...

* 1940–1944:

Bernard Faÿ Marie Louis Emmanuel Bernard Faÿ (3 April 1893 – 31 December 1978) was a French historian of Franco-American relations, an anti-Masonic polemicist who believed in a worldwide Jewish-Freemason conspiracy. During World War II he was an offic ...

* 1944–1945: (interim) * 1945–1964:

* 1964–1975:

Étienne Dennery Étienne Dennery (20 March 1903; Paris – 29 December 1979; Paris) was a French academic, public servant and diplomat. Dennery studied at the École normale supérieure from 1923 to 1926 and became '' agrégé'' in history and geography. He rece ...

* 1975–1981:

Georges Le Rider Georges Charles Le Rider (27 January 1928 – 3 July 2014) was a French historian, librarian and administrator, a specialist in Greek numismatics, who headed the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. He had a filial relationship with Henri A ...

* 1981–1984: * 1984–1987:

André Miquel André Miquel (26 September 1929 – 27 December 2022) was a French Arabist and historian, specialist of Arabic literature and Arabic language. Biography André Miquel was born in Mèze, Hérault on 26 September 1929. He studied literature. ...

* 1987–1993:

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie Emmanuel Bernard Le Roy Ladurie (, 19 July 1929 – 22 November 2023) was a French historian whose work was mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ''Ancien Régime'', particularly the history of the peasantry. One of the leading historians of Franc ...

* 1989–1994:

Dominique Jamet Dominique Jamet (né Benjamin Jamet; born 16 February 1936, in Poitiers) is a French journalist, writer, and politician, best known for serving as the editor-in-chief of ''Le Quotidien de Paris'' from 1979 to 1987, serving as the president of Bib ...

* 1994–1997:

Jean Favier Jean Favier (2 April 1932 – 12 August 2014) was a French historian, who specialized in Medieval history. From 1975 to 1994, he was director of the French National Archives. From 1994 to 1997, he was president of the Bibliothèque nationale de F ...

* 1997–2002: Jean-Pierre Angremy * 2002–2007:

Jean-Noël Jeanneney Jean-Noël Jeanneney (born 2 April 1942, in Grenoble) is a French historian and politician. He is the son of Jean-Marcel Jeanneney and the grandson of Jules Jeanneney, both important figures in French politics. Education After his secondary sch ...

* 2007–2016:

Bruno Racine Bruno Racine (born 17 December 1951 in Paris) is a French civil servant and writer. Early life and education Racine is the son of Pierre Racine (a conseiller d'État) and Edwina Morgulis, Bruno Racine was born in Paris. He studied at the Écol ...

* 2016–2024:

Laurence Engel Laurence Engel (born 17 September 1966) is a French essayist and senior civil servant. In 2016, she was appointed president of the Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two ...

* 2024–present: Gilles Pécout

Notable patrons

Raoul Rigault, leader during the

in 1871, was known for habitually occupying the library and reading endless copies of the newspaper ''

Le Père Duchesne ''Le Père Duchesne'' (; "Old Man Duchesne" or "Father Duchesne") was an extreme radical newspaper during the French Revolution, edited by Jacques Hébert, who published 385 issues from September 1790 until eleven days before his death by gu ...

''.

In popular culture

Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct short films including '' Night and Fog ...

directed '' Toute la mémoire du monde'' (), a 1956 short film about the library and its collections.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bibliotheque nationale de France 1368 establishments in Europe 1360s establishments in France 1792 establishments in France National libraries Culture of Paris Library buildings completed in 1996