The original building on Nevsky Prospekt - source: The National Library of Russia

Libraries - The Ultimate Treasure Troves

Libraries are a huge weakness for me (bookstores also to a lesser extent). I can walk the halls of a library for hours selecting titles and documents to peruse and study. If you're like me, you have a hundred titles that you want to read and time for about one of them. With the ability to "Google" most any topic, I often neglect my reading list and certainly I fail to enjoy an afternoon at the library as often as in the past.

Recently, I visited The National Library of Russia. This is not to be confused with the Russian State Library, which is much younger and has a different historical significance. Rather, The National Library of Russia located in St. Petersburg is one of the largest libraries in the world with over 30 million books, manuscripts, and other items. It's collection of unique, ancient, and important texts can't be adequately described in my short post, but I will present some of the highlights.

Catherine the Great and the Library

The impressive library was created by Empress Catherine II in 1795 just roughly 18 months before her death. The original building is located in the heart of the city at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Sadovaya Street next to the Gostiny Dvor Metro Station. Two more locations would be added over the next 2 centuries to include buildings on Ostrovksy Square and Moskovsky Prospekt.

Catherine not only supported the creation of the library, but also provided the funding and personal donations to the library. A pen pal of Voltaire, Catherine donated the philosopher's personal library to the National Library of Russia. She purchased his collection of nearly 7,000 books after his death in 1778 including his notes made inside the margins of 2000 of these texts. As one of the father's of the "enlightenment", Voltaire's ideas heavily influenced the world and the development of democratic concepts.

A Home that Reflects its Occupants

The most significant characteristic of the library in St. Petersburg is that the box matches the treasure. Not only do the three buildings that form the library house the oldest Russian language texts, but the buildings themselves are gorgeous monuments to the history, traditions, and academia that lie beneath their roofs.

All three buildings that house the library's collection are unique to their respective history. The first building on Nevsky matches the palatial architecture of the city centre, while the building on Ostrovsky Square is Neoclassical and attracts reverence typical for a significant national site. The newest building on Moscovsky Prospekt features a columned rotunda at its entrance.

The interior of the libraries are equally impressive. There is a marvelous mixture of the traditional and the modern in their extensive reading rooms, exhibits, and book-lined walls.

An International Collection of Historic Religious Texts

In addition to being the largest collection of Russian language texts in the world, the library also boasts some impressive religious texts. Here are some of the highlights.

The Ostromir Gospels

This is the oldest dated East Slavic book. There are books that we now know are older, but none of them are actually dated like the Ostomir Gospels, which contain sermon readings for special Orthodox events such as feast days. The text was original created for churches in the Kingdom of Novgorod in 1056.

Codex Sinaiticus

The library contains some of the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek known as the Codex Sinaiticus. These manuscripts are spread throughout four libraries with the largest collection in Great Britain. They date to the mid 4th century are extremely relevant to the modern study of biblical events and provide a contrast to the Latin versions.

Leningrad Codex

The oldest complete text of the Hebrew bible dating back to around 1000 CE. Not only an information record it also serves as an example of beautiful Jewish art which adorns the pages. The text is in extremely good condition considering its age and also features notes and explanations in the margins.

Uthman Qur'an

The text was acquired by Russia in the 1850's as a gift for the Governor of Turkestan who then donated it to the national library. It is one of the oldest Qur'an's in the world dating back to the 8th or 9th centuries. The book was extensively studied at the library and many copies were created in the 19th century. Following the revolution, Vladimir Lenin gave the text to Russian Muslims in the city of Ufa. It was then returned to Central Asia and has remained in Tashkent, Uzbekistan since 1924.

Dedicated Curators and Administrators

The fact that the library remains today is no stroke of luck. The amazing dedication through the years of generations of loyal overseers to this wondrous collection is remarkable. It has survived countless changes in national leadership, various forms of government, and several wars.

The most valuable possessions of the library were carefully boxed, evacuated, and preserved under extreme hardship and conditions during Napoleon's invasion and then again during the siege of Leningrad in World War II. Furthermore, the library has NEVER closed its doors even during the most trying of times such as the 900 day siege. It continued to operate loaning books and even maintained its spacious reading rooms until water supplies finally gave out. Even then, the library provided access to book loans to the residents of the city.

Today it is a shining example of what many of us believe a library should be - A place for the acquisition of knowledge, a bastion of history and literary art, and one of the most important distinctions of humanity's progression beyond barbarism.

Additional Information on The National Library of Russia: http://nlr.ru/eng/ & http://www.visit-petersburg.ru/en/showplace/196921/

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