Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
| Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense | |
|---|---|
 The library inside
|
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| founding | 1770 |
| Duration | 1.5 million volumes (2013) |
| Library type | Scientific library |
| place | Milan |
| ISIL | IT-MI0185 |
| operator | Ministry of Cultural Goods and Tourism |
| Website | www.braidense.it |
The Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense (also called Biblioteca di Brera ) is an Italian national library in Milan . It is located in the Brera district, in the Palazzo di Brera , on Via di Brera 28. This complex of buildings houses other important scientific and cultural institutions, including the Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera and the Pinacoteca di Brera .
The Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense is one of the largest libraries in Italy . It is subordinate to the Italian Ministry of Culture .
The name Braidense refers to Braia , the medieval place name which then became Brera .
history
The Braidense was founded in 1770 as Imperialis Regia Bibliotheca Mediolanensis by Empress Maria Theresa , who at the time also ruled over the Duchy of Milan . The Empress considered the Biblioteca Ambrosiana , founded in 1602 and known for its medieval manuscripts and documents, to be insufficient in terms of modern printed matter. The new library was opened to the general public in 1786 in the Palazzo di Brera. The palazzo, for a long time the seat of a Jesuit college, was taken over after the Jesuit order was abolished in 1773.
The new library was built on the basis of the book collection (24,000 volumes) of Count Carlo Pertusati and the Jesuit libraries Braidense , San Fedele and San Girolamo . In the following years further private collections were added, including those of the Swiss doctor Albrecht von Haller and that of Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini , but also holdings from other dissolved religious orders and duplicates from the Vienna court library . The Milanese legal deposit decree of April 30, 1788 then contributed significantly to the further expansion of the collection. It was initially only valid for the duchy, and then in the first half of the following century in the Kingdom of Lombardy-Veneto .
After the unification of Italy in 1861, the Biblioteca Braidense was given the status of a "national library" in 1880. It was an award that several important libraries in Italy received. Only the “Central National Libraries” in Florence and Rome took on the role of a real national library with Italy-wide legal deposit. In the case of the Braidense, the latter is still regionally limited to this day.
Stocks
In 2013, the library's holdings totaled around 1,500,000 volumes, 23,000 periodicals (4,500 current ones), over 2,100 manuscripts, around 2,400 incunabula and 25,000 prints from the 16th century, 40,000 autographs , 30,000 microfilms , 120,000 microfiche , 5,200 photos before 1950, 2,000 slides , 50,000 photo negatives as well as maps and drawings. The Archivio Storico Ricordi music archive is located next to the library . A musical research center was located at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi , the media library is located in the former Santa Teresa church .
Web links
- Website of the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense (Italian, English)
- History of the Library (English)
- Mediateca Santa Teresa
- Entry on iccu.sbn.it