Biblioteca Comunale di Palermo

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Glance into the Sala Amari , the reading room for manuscripts and rare prints
Entrance to Casa Professa

The Biblioteca Comunale di Palermo is a general academic library that was founded as Biblioteca del Senato in 1760 as a public library for the city of Palermo . The objective of founding the library is expressed in its Latin motto: Ad ornamentum Patriae civiumque suorum utilitatem . At first the library was housed in the Palazzo Pretorio ; soon further rooms were rented. When the Jesuits were expelled from Palermo in 1767, their properties passed into state ownership; The library was then assigned to the rooms in the Casa Professa , the former Jesuit house belonging to the Chiesa del Gesù , and inaugurated on April 25, 1775. The Biblioteca Comunale is the oldest still existing library in Palermo, as today's Biblioteca Centrale della Regione Siciliana was only opened as a royal library in 1782. The Jesuit library did not go to the Comunale after 1767 , but formed the basis of the collections of the Royal Library.

Of particular importance for research into Sicilian history are the manuscripts that have come to the library mainly from the bequests of scholars. Medieval manuscripts are also worth mentioning, such as the Martyrologium of the Cappella Palatina from the first half of the 12th century ( call number 2 Qq.E.2 ), which came into the library from the possession of the first librarian Domenico Schiavo . A manuscript with legal texts for Sicily from 1492 is kept under the signature Qq.H.124 , including the constitutions of Melfi . The manuscript 2 Qq.A.66 , created around 1300, contains the Regula sancti Benedicti and other theological texts as well as a collection of novellas and mandates from Frederick II.

In addition to 5,000 manuscripts, the library has 1,038 incunabula , 6,000 cinquecentines (prints from the 16th century), and over 30,000 volumes from the 17th and 18th centuries. 150,000 volumes from the 19th century and 133,000 more recent volumes; their holdings total around 370,000 volumes. There are also 60,000 letters from Sicilians, a Nummarium (a collection of over 1,000 Arabic coins) and the Famedio dei Siciliani illustri , 371 portraits of well-known Sicilian personalities, which were placed throughout the library.

Gioacchino Di Marzo , who had worked as a librarian in the Biblioteca Comunale from 1857 and also headed it from 1873 to 1916 , made the collections accessible .

After being closed for a long time to the public due to restoration work and technical improvements, the library has been open for use again since February 2017.

On January 8, 2020, it was named after the Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia .

Web links

Commons : Biblioteca Comunale di Palermo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ German: For the decoration of the hometown and for the benefit of its citizens. On the cover of the manuscript 2 Qq. E. 2 ( Memento of March 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) the Latin motto can be clearly read on the signature plate; in the claws of the eagle soaring over it one recognizes a tape with the antiquing inscription SPQP for Senatus PopulusQue Panormitanus ("Senate and People of Palermo").
  2. ^ History of the Biblioteca Comunale di Palermo on their homepage (accessed on July 6, 2013; changed on March 9, 2017) .
  3. ^ History of the Biblioteca Centrale della Regione Siciliana , formerly Regia Biblioteca di Palermo on Manus online (accessed on July 6, 2013) .
  4. ↑ Entry in the Teca digital , access to the digitized material via Indice or Sequential
  5. ↑ Annliese Nef : Sur les saints de la Sicilie normande: à propos du martyrologe Ms 2 Qq E2 de la Biblioteca Comunale di Palermo . In: Puer Apuliae. Mélanges offerts à J.-M. Martin , éd. E. Cuozzo, V. Déroche, A. Peters-Custot et V. Prigent (Center de recherche et d'histoire et de civilization de Byzance, Monographies, 30), vol. 2, Paris, 2008, pp. 477-490 online at academia.edu .
  6. ↑ a b The Constitutions of Frederick II for the Kingdom of Sicily. Edited by Wolfgang Stürner ( MGH Constitutiones, Volume 2, Supplementum). Hahn, Hannover 1996, pp. 20-21 ( online at dmgh.de).
  7. ↑ Overview on the pages of the Biblioteca Comunale , last accessed on March 9, 2017.
  8. ↑ Famedio dei Siciliani Illustri , directory of those portrayed (with access to individual entries ) on the sides of the Biblioteca Comunale .
  9. ↑ report in balarm
  10. ↑ History of the Library /


Coordinates: 38 ° 6 '47 "  N , 13 ° 21' 42"  E