National Library of Spain

Open day at the National Library of Spain

I am writing this entry because there are many people who aren't aware of this historical building, the National Library of Spain. Year after year, they organise an open day with the aim of celebrating Book Day.

Source

The National Library of Spain is responsible for receiving and protecting the copies of all the books that have been published in Spain.

Furthermore, it has an extremely large collection of manuscripts in the basement, as well as works of art, photographs and sheet music...

The building itself has a long history. It was founded by Felipe V as the Royal Public Library but was passed as property to the Governing Ministry Crown, receiving the current name of the National Library in the 19th century.

Its interior reflects this history. In some of the rooms you can see the emblems of all of the Autonomous Communities of Spain in those days... There were some curious ones, like the emblem of Cuba.

More than anything, I want to leave you with the tour that we have done throughout the visit, through a series of photographs that I have taken, particularly the ones that I liked the most:

I hope you enjoy seeing them!

Some photographs of the main hall, with its central skylight that bathes the entire room in bright light and its large staircases, this room is totally symmetrical.

In addition, what I liked was that it was the employees themselves who accompanied us during the hour and a half that lasted the entire route.

Photographs of the reading/lecture hall are current

As for the warehouse of books, its author was a disciple of Eiffel, now they have been forced to modify it because it caused them multiple problems when it came to the conservation of the different books. It is strange that, in these rooms, the books are ordered by size and not by subject (as we are used to seeing). This is due to the fact that the closer they are to each other, the greater their conservation will be over time.

Internet, meet your great-grandfather! Data search files.....

Let's all have a look!

And to wrap up the visit, a carnation and a book.

I hope that you have liked this visit and I encourage you to see this incredible building. See you next time!