The largest libraries in the world. The largest library in the world Library and Archives Canada

Before the advent of gadgets, people obtained the information they were interested in exclusively in libraries. The largest library in the world is the American Library of Congress. Its collection includes 155 million copies of books, manuscripts, maps and other materials. The institution serves 1.8 million visitors annually. It has 3,600 employees. Below are the 5 largest libraries on Earth.

The honorary title of the largest library is held by the US National Library - the scientific library of Congress, serving research enterprises, government agencies, industrial companies, private firms, and schools.

The library was founded in 1800 by order of President John Adams. Only members of the Senate and Congress, the president, and the vice president had access to its resources. At the time of its founding, the library's collection included 745 books and 3 maps of America.

In 1814, the library building burned down. To restore it, Congress purchased from Thomas Jefferson his personal collection of 6,487 books. In 1851, the library survived a second fire. $170,000 was allocated from the budget for its restoration.

After reconstruction, ministers, judges, heads of departments, some representatives of political parties, scientists, writers, and journalists from reputable media received access to the resources of the Library of Congress. Since 1870, the library has been required to receive one copy of all public publications published in the United States. In 1930 the library received the title of national.

The Library of Congress occupies four buildings: the Main Building, the John Adams Building, the James Madison Memorial Building (including the Mary Pickford Theater), and the Video and Audio Preservation Center.

The library consists of 18 reading rooms, which can simultaneously accommodate 1,460 visitors. Its fund consists of 156 million storage units, of which: 30 million books in 470 languages, 58 million manuscripts, 12.6 million photos, 4.9 million maps, 500,000 videos, 2.7 million audio recordings, newspapers from all over the world, government publications. The volume of funds in digital form is approaching 20 terabytes. Budget – $130 million.

By merging the libraries of the British Museum, the Patent Office, the National Bureau of Technical and Scientific Information, and the Council for National Bibliography, the British Library was created - the second largest after the Library of Congress. The library has three branches, access to its reading rooms is free, and readers over 18 years of age are allowed to access the resources.

The British Library collection has 152 million items, which occupy 625 km of shelves. The annual increase is 12 km. Total area – 112,000 sq. km. The main building consists of 14 floors, 5 of them underground. The library serves 16,000 visitors every day, and is visited by 2.3 million readers every year. The state employs about 2,000 employees. Budget: £141 million.

The British Library stores unique publications: manuscripts, the first printed map of the New World, Buddhist manuscripts, the Lindisfar Gospel, Codex Sinaiticus, etc.

Since 1895, the library in New York has existed as a private, non-profit public organization. It is considered the most extensive library in the world. It consists of 87 divisions, of which: 77 branches, 4 buildings with reading rooms, 4 buildings providing subscription books, divisions for people with disabilities. The volume of funds is 53.5 million units, of which more than 20 million are books.

The institution serves 18 million visitors annually. Visiting the halls is free for everyone. The state employs 3,200 employees. The New York Library maintains a special patrol unit that monitors order in its various branches and ensures their safety.

4. Library and Archives Canada

In 2004, through the merger of the National Archives and the National Library of Canada, a government department was founded, responsible for collecting and storing the country's documentary heritage. The library building is located in Ottawa on an area of ​​52.6 square meters and occupies 5 floors. 13.2 million Canadian dollars were allocated for its construction.

The library's collection includes 48 million items. It houses 350,000 works of art, 22 million photographs, 72,000 hours of video footage, and Canada's largest collection of folk music. The institution's electronic database occupies 3.2 million MB.

The director of the Library and Archives of Canada is Daniel Caron, who occupies the chair of deputy minister. He was also awarded the title of Archivist and Librarian of Canada.

On the basis of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums, the National Library of the Russian Federation was created in 1862, which is also a leading research enterprise in the field of book science, bibliography, library science, a methodological center for Russian libraries, and a center for recommendatory bibliography. The RSL has had its current name since 1992.

The Russian State Library consists of 8 departments and 2 editorial divisions:

• fund system management;
• management of specialized departments;
• information management for the Khimki complex;
• directory system management;
• automation management;
• information resources management;
• Information Technology Department;
• technical support department;
• magazine "Oriental Collection";
• editorial and publishing department.

The volume of the library's collections is 44.8 million items. Its resources are used annually by 1.5 million visitors, who are served by 38 reading rooms with a capacity of 1,746 people. The RSL publishes its own scientific publications. Open to everyone.

The RSL carries out book exchange with 550 partners in 63 countries. Since 1956 it has been the depositary library of UNESCO. In 1992, the RSL became the headquarters of the Eurasian Library Assembly. In 2009, she received gratitude from the President of Russia for her contribution to the restoration and preservation of the heritage of Russian culture and history.

All-Russian Library Day is celebrated on May 27. This holiday was established by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of July 27, 1995 and is dedicated to a significant date: on this day in 1795, the first public library was opened in Russia - now the Russian National Library. Nowadays the Russian National Library is one of the largest libraries in the world.

Russian National Library

The Russian National Library (RNL) is one of the first public libraries in Eastern Europe. Located in St. Petersburg. The Russian National Library belongs to the greatest treasuries of the country's cultural and historical heritage. One of the largest libraries in the world, it has the most complete collection of publications in Russian. The Library's collections also include literature in many languages ​​of the world on leading branches of science and technology. Particular attention is traditionally paid to the formation of funds of documents about Russia and in the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia, published outside its borders.

The Russian National Library traces its history back to the Imperial Public Library, which was founded on May 16 (27), 1795 by the highest order of Empress Catherine II. The project for the construction of the building was carried out by the architect Egor Sokolov. The library was conceived not only as a book depository, but as a publicly accessible “source of public education.” It was planned to collect all books printed in Russia, published abroad in Russian, as well as books about Russia in foreign languages. Empress Catherine personally supervised the construction of the library and took part in collecting books for the library fund.

The opening of the Imperial Public Library took place on January 2 (14), 1814. The library was open to everyone, regardless of social status.

When organizing the library, the goal was to provide access to books to all literate people in the state striving for European education. The library's collections were multilingual and universal. Initially, the library's collection consisted of about 2 thousand books in Russian and many European languages. The priority right to use the library was assigned to academicians, but other educated people could also visit it. Moreover, this regime of access to the Library remained until the 70s of the 18th century.

Since 1783, after the decree of Catherine II on Free Printing Houses, a decree was adopted on the delivery of a legal copy of all printed materials in Russia to the library.

Throughout its history, BAN has experienced periods of upswing associated with growing interest in scientific research, with an increase in the prestige of education and scientific activity, as well as periods of “non-existence.” The periods of rise include the initial period of its formation, when over the course of a century (until the beginning of the 19th century), fulfilling the will of Peter I and following his traditions, BAN dynamically developed, performing the functions of the first national Russian library. At this time, books from the personal collection of Peter the Great and books from the Kremlin royal library were transferred to the funds. In the 90s of the 18th century, the Library had 40 thousand volumes of books and manuscripts, in 1836 - 90 thousand, in 1848 - 112,753, in 1862 - 243,109. By the beginning of 1917, the book collection of the BAN numbered more than 1, 5 million volumes.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, literature came to the Library from institutions in charge of censorship. All government agencies, universities, other educational institutions, scientific organizations and societies delivered their publications to the Library. During these years, the Library was intensively replenished with literature reflecting the social and political struggle in the country. Much revolutionary literature came from abroad through the Foss company, as well as from emigrants, public organizations and individuals.

Since 1932, the library network of the Academy of Sciences included libraries of its peripheral bases and branches in the European part of the country, Siberia and the Far East. In the 1940s and 50s, the Library received a number of valuable collections and private collections.

Today the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences is an all-Russian state repository of a universal profile. In terms of the size and value of its collections, it is one of the largest universal scientific libraries in the world.

The unified library collection of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences system includes the central library collection, universal in content, which contains more than 20.5 million copies of books and branch collections of special libraries. The book fund in the departments and sectors of the BAS at the St. Petersburg institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences exceeds 6 million copies. 40% of publications in the unified collection of the BAN are foreign publications. The BAN collection contains 9.5 million books, about 9 million magazines, over 26 thousand newspaper titles; fund of rare publications - about 250 thousand items and 18.5 thousand manuscripts. Annual receipts are more than 200 thousand copies, including about 50 thousand copies of foreign publications. The main sources of literature are, since 1783, free legal deposit, subscription to publications through agencies, purchases through bookselling networks and publishing organizations, and book exchange.

Library of Congress

The largest system of university libraries in the world and the oldest in America began in 1638. Founded by the English colony, the college received half of his fortune and a personal library in John Harvard's will. A year later, the college was named after the donor. Of the 400 volumes of his library, only one book, “The Christian War against the Devil, the World and the Flesh,” has survived to this day. Almost the entire collection burned in a fire in 1764, which destroyed almost the entire college library, which by that time numbered about 5 thousand volumes. Only 404 books survived. However, donations and gifts helped quickly restore and increase the size of the fund.

During the 19th century, a branched structure of the university libraries developed. Libraries of law, medical and theological schools were opened successively in 1817, 1819, 1826. By 1900, there were already 37 of them. Currently, the university library system includes 94 independent institutions. It also includes the university archives and depository. The total library collection is more than 16 million publications and is the second largest in the country after the Library of Congress.

The largest is the Harvard College library, named after 1907 graduate Harry Weidner, who drowned during the sinking of the Titanic. Harry Weidner's mother immortalized her son's memory with the construction of this monumental building.

The Weidner Library houses collections of Slavic literature, literature of the Middle East, collections in Hebrew and Hebrew: these funds number 5 million publications. The Rare Book Library holds several million manuscripts and about half a million printed publications.

Among the latter are about three thousand incunabula (books published in Europe from the beginning of printing until January 1, 1501), an extensive collection of European books of the 16th and 17th centuries.

German National Economic Library

The German Central Library for Economic Sciences (ZBW) in Kiel is the largest scientific and economic library in the world.

Since joining the library of the Hamburg Archive of the World Economy in January 2007, it has a collection of approximately 4 million items, including extensive holdings of working papers, statistical publications, dissertations and conference proceedings, as well as over 25 thousand print and electronic journal subscriptions. Thematic priorities - national economy, economics and organization of production, economic practice. Based on these funds, the ECONIS online catalog is compiled, which includes 3.4 million titles; the catalog also contains links to journal and book articles. Collections are made available to users throughout the world through national and international interlibrary loan and electronic delivery services. Additional library services include the EconBiz Virtual Economics Library and EconDesk online help.

National Library of China

The National Library of China was founded as the Beijing Capital Library in 1909 in agreement with the throne and government of China's last Qing dynasty. After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, it was transferred to the Ministry of Education and opened to visitors in August 1912. In 1916, it was entrusted with the functions of the country's main library. By the time of the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (1949), the library's collections included 1.4 million documents.

Today, the collection of the National Library of China numbers over 26 million books and increases annually by 600-700 thousand publications. Among them there are unique ancient inscriptions on animal bones and turtle shells from the Shang Dynasty (XVI-XI centuries BC). The library's special collection includes 1 million rare books, ancient atlases, works of literature in the language of Chinese minorities, manuscripts of famous people, and historical documents.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

For many centuries before the invention of electronic gadgets, people obtained the necessary knowledge from libraries. Now they have become a little less in demand, but many people still value books and their historical value, and therefore would rather go to the library than read from a screen while traveling through the expanses of the RuNet. What are the largest libraries in the world?

The largest library in the world was built in Washington, USA, and is a scientific book depository used by schools, governments, private organizations and research institutions. There is a special department here where you can apply for copyright; to do this, you just need to fill out a form on the official website.

The institution was founded in 1800 immediately after the nation's capital was moved to Washington. President Adams allocated $5,000 for the purchase of books that might be useful for government affairs. So the library acquired the first 740 book volumes and 3 geographical maps. Initially, only government officials could use it.

At this time, the funds amount to 30 million books, 58 million handwritten materials and much more: bound newspapers, sheet music, maps, gramophone records, films, sound recordings, government publications.

The library occupies three buildings on Capitol Hill, connected by underground passages.

The second largest library in the world (and the largest in Europe) was founded in 1972 by merging the book depository of the British Museum and several other smaller ones. The repository is publicly funded and receives additional funds from donations, sponsors and paid services. There are approximately 8-13 people on the board, one of them is personally selected by the monarch. Here, for the first time in the world, the principle of strategic planning was introduced to simplify work and determine the main directions of work for the near future.

At the moment, there are 150 million copies in the book depository, these are not only ordinary books, but also patents (most of them), manuscripts, stamps, maps, sheet music, etc.

Britain is home to almost a quarter of all the world's incunabula (books published before 1500)

This majestic library is private, benefiting from both private and government funding. Considered one of the most important book depositories in the States. It has 87 divisions, which include district branches, scientific departments and departments for people with disabilities. The holdings number 50 million items, specifically books - 20 million.

The institution has repeatedly been criticized due to the reduction of funds and the narrowing of the range of services. But the management decided to participate in an international library project organized by Google. According to the rules, the world's famous libraries were required to make public domain books available online. Books are not indexed by search engines, and they cannot be downloaded or distributed.

The building is located on an elevated part in the city center. At the time of its construction, it was the largest marble building in the United States.

They are considered responsible for the preservation of the documentary historical heritage of the state - materials related to politics and culture. The archive is replenished by national institutions and organizations, private donations, and also by a legal deposit system (which means that periodicals are required to send one copy of each issue to the archive).

When replenishing its collection, the institution tries to focus mainly on materials of cultural and historical value. These may include books from indigenous peoples, architectural designs, artifacts, comic magazines, films, websites, globes, dissertations, trading company catalogs, and much more.

The library is located in the capital, Ottawa, and its director is also a deputy minister.

The next huge library is located in Moscow. It is the largest of all in Russia, because its funds exceed 44 million units. In addition, it is considered the largest in continental Europe. The repository was founded in 1862, renamed several times during its existence, and since 1992 it has had its current name.

Initially, its funds were represented only by the Rumyantsev collection (approximately 28 thousand books, a thousand maps and 700 handwritten texts).

But, according to the issued decree, all literature published on the territory of the state was to be supplied here, and until 1917 the repository was replenished only with legal copies.

Later donations and donations became involved.

In addition to its main function, the institution is a center for such sciences as bibliography, bibliography and bibliographic studies. Many different projects are prepared here, as well as regulatory documents related to library activities.

According to estimates for 2013, 93 thousand readers used the library, and the number of materials issued reached fifteen million units

Russian National Library

In addition to Moscow, there is a large library in the Northern capital. Her project was approved by Catherine II in 1795. At the moment it is one of the most important cultural heritage sites of the Russian Federation. According to estimates for 2012, its funds amount to almost 37 million units, 30 of which are Russian, the rest are foreign. Every year the repository is replenished with another 400 thousand elements, of which 80 percent are Russian-language. In addition, the National Library contains Voltaire's library, which was previously kept in the Hermitage, but was moved here in 1861. It contains approximately 6800 copies.

Another of the most famous book depositories is located in Japan. It is often compared to the Library of Congress in terms of its goals and capabilities. The main branches are located in Tokyo and Kyoto, and smaller ones in other cities.

Before the war, the Japanese Diet's need for special collections and library services was extremely small, but in 1948 the need arose to establish a state book depository. Its initial funds amounted to 100 thousand elements, and as of 2012 this number reached 35 million. The NPB contains copies of all publications ever published in Japan.

The library is a public archive and contains a large amount of foreign literature

Another well-known large book depository, one of the most important not only in Scandinavia, but also in the world. It is quite old, it was founded in 1648 by the then-current king on the basis of a huge collection of works by European authors. The library was opened to public access only in 1793. , and since 1989 it has periodically merged with other book depositories, including university and scientific ones.

In the 60s or 70s, it was subjected to the largest robbery in history; over the years, almost 3,200 books of historical value were taken away by unknown persons. Damage was estimated at $50 million. Until the beginning of the 2000s, copies of the rarest stolen publications appeared at various auctions. In the end, the criminal was discovered and soon died, but his relatives continued to trade in the stolen volumes. The court sentenced them to prison.

Today the library occupies four buildings, the oldest of which was built in 1906

This is the most extensive scientific library and repository of various types of publications in the People's Republic of China. It also performs the functions of a state bibliography center, a development center and a center for a collection of information and technical libraries.

The repository not only contains the world's largest selection of Chinese books, but also China's most impressive collection of foreign volumes. It is open to visitors all year round, seven days a week, and on the official website you can use online services 24 hours a day.

In terms of area, it ranks 5th in the world and has a collection of volumes exceeding 24 million, 27 thousand of which are extremely rare

Libraries existed even before the advent of paper books; archaeologists have more than once discovered repositories with clay tablets or scrolls in ancient cities. Be that as it may, the library has always been an extremely important place, because it was where information about humanity and the world around it was stored.

In the new year, many will probably set a goal to read more) You need to live several lives in this library to read at least half of the books. TravelAsk will tell you about the largest library in the world.

The main center of US science

The US Library of Congress is the largest in the world. It is located in Washington, and its collection exceeds 155 million books in 470 languages. In addition, manuscripts, audio recordings and films are stored here. And she is also one of the most beautiful. It contains literature of various types, ranging from schools and research organizations to literature for government agencies.

The library has 18 reading rooms; they can accommodate almost 1,500 people a day. And if we talk about numbers in general, approximately 1.7 million readers visit the library every year, and 3,600 employees work here.

The history of the largest library

The library was founded on April 24, 1800, just as Washington became the capital. Then a considerable sum was allocated for the creation of the first fund: 5 thousand dollars. They purchased more than 700 books that were intended for members of Congress. They gave the name to the library.

Less than 15 years later, the library was destroyed during the Anglo-American War. Then they completely burned almost the entire collection, including the most valuable books. But after the war ended, former President Thomas Jefferson sold his collection for $24,000. It contained more than 6 thousand unique books that he collected for half a century. Thus began the revival of the library. By the way, the main building was named after him.

However, the troubles did not end there: in 1851, there was another severe fire in the library, so it had to be restored again.

Unique collections

In the 20th century, the Library of Congress was supplemented by two branch buildings, one named after its founder and second president, John Adams, and the other, fourth president James Madison. The buildings are connected to each other by passages.

The library's collections are actually unique, at least because there are more than 5.5 thousand ancient books - incunabula - that were published in the first centuries after the invention of printing. In addition, there are huge collections of literature in other languages.

Thus, the Library of Congress contains the largest collection of Russian literature outside of Russia. In 1907, the management bought 81 thousand copies of books and magazines from the Krasnoyarsk bibliophile and merchant G.V. Yudina. Yudin was worried that with the outbreak of revolution and unrest in the country, his library would be lost, so he was forced to sell it. Nicholas II refused to purchase it due to lack of funds. From then on, the collection of Russian literature began to be replenished.

All collections have been transferred into digital format for several years now, but this is a very labor-intensive process. If the entire fund is converted into electronic form, then approximately 20 terabytes will be required for storage.

How the library is replenished

Back in the 19th century, the government passed a law stating that any book published in the United States must be transferred to the Library of Congress in at least one copy. Every day the library is replenished by approximately 15 thousand items, including those donated. Thus, the annual increase in literary copies here is about 3 million.

Today the collection is so huge that if all the shelves were lined up in one row, their length would be almost 1.5 thousand kilometers. A lifetime is not enough to read at least a third of these books.

In addition to books, it houses 68 million manuscripts, 5 million maps (the largest collection of maps in the world), more than 3.4 million records and more than 13.5 million photographs. And, of course, comics, where would the USA be without them? There are more than 100 thousand of them, this is the largest collection in the country and, perhaps, in the world.

Interesting facts about the largest library in the world

Fact #1. The Library of Congress has the largest collection of 15th-century books in the Western Hemisphere. It also contains one of only three known copies of the Gutenberg Bible. It was with her that the history of printing began in the 1450s.

Fact #2. The Library of Congress has maintained a special collection of books for the blind since 1931.

Fact #3. In addition to comics and maps, there is also the world's largest collection of telephone directories.

Fact #4. Since 2006, the library has been collecting and archiving every public tweet.

Fact #5. The library spends about $100,000 on light bulbs each year.

Fact #6. Every day, except Sunday, the library offers free tours lasting about 45 minutes.

And even the largest libraries in the world

As for the top three, second place is occupied by the British Library in London, whose collection is not far ahead: 150 million copies. Third place is occupied by the New York Public Library, with 53 million items. By the way, it is visited annually by a record number of people - 18 million readers. As for Russian libraries, the Russian State Library of Moscow and the Russian National Library of St. Petersburg are in 5th and 6th place with 45 and 37 million copies, respectively.

The book is one of the most valuable inventions of mankind. Since ancient times, people have sought to systematize and replenish their book stocks by creating special book depositories - libraries. This tradition has been preserved to this day. In this article we will talk about the largest libraries in the world.

1. Library of Congress

The largest library in the world is located in Washington. It was created in 1800 and initially consisted of only 740 books and 3 geographical maps. Now the total number of fund units is about 160 million. This figure increases by several thousand every day. The huge book depository contains literature written in 420 languages, including 300 thousand books in Russian. There are also secret funds. The library has 18 reading rooms and 3.5 thousand employees work on a permanent basis. Access to this unique collection is open to everyone over 16 years of age.

2. British Library

Another of the world's largest book depositories is located in London. The basis of the library was the rich collection of books collected by Sir Hans Sloan in the 18th century. It acquired its current status and name in the 70s of the last century in connection with the adoption of a new Law that united the British Museum library, the National Central Library and several other book collections. Today, a total of 150 million items are stored here - books, manuscripts, geographical maps, files of magazines and newspapers, including valuable collections and unique ancient specimens.

3. New York Public Library

Another large library, founded at the end of the 20th century, is located in New York. It consists of a main branch and more than 70 branches scattered throughout the city. Use of most of the book stock is free for anyone. The total number of copies of the book depository exceeds 53 million units, among which there are many rare and especially valuable exhibits. In addition to its unique book collection, the New York Library is famous for its rich and luxurious architecture. Many famous movies were filmed in this building.

4. Library and Archives Canada

The government body that collects and stores documents on the history, culture and political activities of Canada is located in Ottawa. Its leader is officially considered the Librarian and Archivist of Canada and holds the position of Deputy Minister. The rich collection of funds of this institution numbers over 20 million items. The entire documentary heritage of the country is stored here: books, documents, magazines and newspapers. There are special rooms for works of art, architectural sketches, photographs, audio recordings and all films released in Canadian distribution.

5. Russian State Library

The largest library in Russia and one of the largest in the world. It was created in July 1862 on the basis of the collection of the Rumyantsev Museum and is located in the Central District of Moscow. The total volume of the book depository is almost 47 million items in 367 languages ​​of the world, among which there are unique handwritten books: the Arkhangelsk Gospel of the 11th century, the Khitrovo Gospel of the 14-15th centuries, printed books of the 16th century, editions of the works of A. Dante, G. Bruno and N. Copernicus. In addition to an extensive collection of books, the library houses special collections of newspapers, maps, sheet music, audio recordings and dissertations.

6. Russian National Library

The second largest book depository in Russia, located in St. Petersburg. The creation project was approved under Catherine II, but its official opening took place only in 1814 and was timed to coincide with the arrival of the Russian Emperor Alexander I. Nowadays, the library’s collection includes more than 35.5 million items - books, magazines, newspapers, official documents, geographical maps. Here is a unique and extensive collection of books by the French thinker Voltaire, numbering more than 6,800 volumes. At one time, it was purchased by the Russian Empress Catherine II from the philosopher’s niece.

7. National Diet Library (Tokyo)

Another largest library, one of the largest book depositories in the world, is located in Tokyo. Founded in the mid-20th century for representatives of the Japanese Diet, with an initial holding of only one hundred thousand volumes, it constantly replenished its literary stock. Now the total volume of the book depository is about 35 million units. Copies of almost all printed materials published in this country are stored here - books, periodicals, geographical maps, CDs, as well as an extensive and varied collection of literature in foreign languages.

8. Royal Danish Library

The Royal Danish Library is one of the largest book depositories in the Scandinavian countries and throughout the world. The library was founded in the mid-17th century, and in 1793 public access was opened here. Its extensive collection contains all works published in the country since the 17th century. The first Danish book, dated 1482, is also kept here. In total, the book depository contains more than 35 million items. Among them are many historical and unique publications - medieval manuscripts, a rich collection of ancient maps, musical notes, photographs, diaries of famous people.

9. National Library of China

The largest library in China, occupying the fifth largest area in the world. Founded in 1909, located in Beijing. The volume of all library collections is almost 28 million units. Of these, there are more than 10 million books in 115 languages, including the world's largest collection of Chinese literature, as well as an impressive number of valuable historical documents and ancient manuscripts. Its collection includes a variety of periodicals, dissertations, geographical maps, video and sound recordings, films and others. The library is always open to the public.

10. National Library of France

One of the largest libraries in Europe and the whole world is located in Paris. It was founded back in the 14th century. At that time, its collection amounted to 1200 manuscripts. For a long time it belonged personally to the French ruling dynasty, and in the 17th century it was open to free visits. Since then, the library’s collection has been actively replenished with books and manuscripts in different languages ​​of the world. Now the total stock of the book depository is more than 30 million units and continues to grow. In addition to the largest collection of French literature in the world, it includes many interesting exhibits: ancient manuscripts, geographical maps and engravings, photographs, coins and even costumes.