National Library of France: address, contacts, opening hours, selection of books and terms of lending

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Every city in the world has its own library, and somewhere - more than one. Libraries in large cities are large, in small ones they are smaller, almost compact. And in some settlements there are such book depositories that are known to the whole world. For example, the National Library of France in Paris - only the lazy have not heard of it. What is special about this temple of the book, we will find out further!

The National Library of France: history

The first thing the largest French-language library in the world is famous for is its age. And it is quite honorable - this book house is one of the oldest in all of Europe. Despite the fact that the official founding date of the French National Library is considered to be 1994, its origins lie in the personal libraries of the monarchs of France. Such, for example, as Charles V, who sat on the throne in the distant XIV century. He initially began to collect his collection of books in such a way that he would later pass it on to his descendants. In addition, the king was very generous and allowed scientists to work with books from his own collection. Moreover, he allowed many books to be rewritten, and some he even ordered "to convey to the people." However, his kindness played a trick on him: the royal relatives took copies from the collection and did not return them back. Thus, everything that the monarch managed to accumulate was pilfered, and out of more than 1200 books, a pathetic handful was eventually left. Nevertheless, it is she, this handful of books, that is the "progenitor" of the National Library of France (in the photo below, the library's reading room).

The case of Charles V was continued by Louis XI. However, not that he continued, but practically started anew. The remaining copies from the collection of his predecessor, he added to the collection of his father and grandfather. Later, he further expanded the library by purchasing the collection of the Dukes of Milan and, in part, the Petrarch collection. And Francis the First, when power passed to him, supplemented the royal collection with a personal collection. By the way, it was under Francis that the future National Library of France received such employees as bookbinders, the head librarian and assistant librarians.

Francis the First loved to read. There is a legend that on various trips the monarch was accompanied by a bookcase. Like it or not, it’s hard to say, one thing is known for sure - the king constantly acquired new books for the collection, including abroad, so that during his reign the collection of the royal library was significantexpanded.

Further destiny

In 1546, the library of the French kings was opened to a wide range of readers. But when Louis XIII ascended the throne (XVII century), this permission was canceled, the book depository again became only royal. Returned access to visitors only with the next king.

Under him, Louis XIV, the library was replenished with a mass of valuable acquisitions: books, manuscripts, drawings, miniatures, sketches and so on. All of them date back to different years and were donated to the French repository from completely different people. This constant addition to the library continued.

National Library of France

At the end of the 18th century, the Great French Revolution broke out, as a result of which the library of kings was nationalized. Formerly called royal, now it has received national status. And in the same period, the collection was replenished with a huge number of rare, unique, truly rare books from the monasteries and abbeys of France: more than nine thousand books contained only one collection, and several of them entered the library at once. Even then, the library was one of the largest in Europe, so huge that in the late 60s of the XIX century a new large building was erected for it, where all the books were freely placed. The National Library of France prospered.

New time

By the beginning of the 90s of the last century, the National Library of France had more than nine million books. Even the formera huge building (by the way, historical) became cramped for so many copies. And then it was decided to build a whole library complex of four towers. It rises on the left bank of the Seine. The main funds of the collection are comfortably located there, while the rest of the books are in their original places.

Today is the age of technology, when any information is available on the Internet, including books. That is why all the libraries of the world undertook to digitize their treasures and put them on the World Wide Web. One of the first to take this step was the National Library of France. Of course, it is not possible to find all the materials of the library on the net (the French collection now has more than thirty million items), but very, very much is available for online use. More than two and a half thousand people work in the repository, so it is rightfully considered one of the largest not only in terms of the number of books, but also in terms of the number of employees.

Library operation mode

The main collections of the National Library of France are open to everyone every day. They are called the François Mitterrand Library and operate as follows: on Monday from 14:00 to 20:00, but only for researchers; Tuesday to Saturday from 09:00 am to 20:00 pm; Sunday - from 13:00 to 19:00 hours.

The Richelieu Library - the second building of the French repository, is open for visitors from Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00. Sundayhere - a day off, as well as in the third building, the library of the Arsenal. Visitors are welcome there from 10:00 to 18:00 on weekdays, and from 10:00 to 17:00 on Saturday.

Finally, the fourth building, the Opera Library Museum, is open six days a week, except Sundays, from ten in the morning to five in the evening.

Contact information

As you might guess, the National Library of France has several addresses. Here are all of them below.

The François Mitterrand Library is located at: Quai François-Mauriac 75706 Paris Cedex 13

• The Richelieu Library is located here: 58, rue de Richelieu 75002 Paris.
• The Arsenal Library is located at 1, rue Sully 75004 Paris.
• Finally, the address of the Opera Library Museum - Place de l'Opéra 75009 Paris.

The word "rue" in the address means "street", "place" means "square".

How to become a reader?

Everyone will be allowed into the National Library of France, but not everyone will be given books. How to become a reader and get the treasure in your hands?

It's pretty simple. The library is divided into two - scientific and educational. The first entry is allowed only to accredited persons from the age of eighteen who perform any research work from the university or independently. Everyone who is over sixteen is allowed into the second, if you buy a subscription. So come, buy and read on he alth.

Reviews

Reviews about the Bibliothèque nationale de France are mostly positive. Peopleadmire not only the rare books collected here, but also the architecture of historical buildings. They write that the library constantly hosts various thematic expositions.

This is a summary of the National Library of France. If you are in Paris - visit it, because it is better to see once than hear a hundred times!