The European Library

History, foundation and function

The origins of the National Library date back to 1768, the year when the Real Mesa Censória (Royal Censorship) was established in Portugal. In fact, its library housed the initial holdings of the "Royal Public Library of the Court and Kingdom", the name given to the National Library in a charter dated February 29th, 1796. The Library was opened to the public on 13th May 1797.

In 1836, the Library was moved to the premises of the Convent of Saint Francis in Town which offered no conditions for such precious holdings. It then became the Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa. In 1969 the Library was finally moved to the building which it now occupies, built for the sole purpose of providing suitable accommodations for books, users and staff.

Since its foundation, the main mission of the National Library has been to collect, preserve and promote the dissemination and investigation of the national written and printed heritage.

The first regulations on Legal Deposit were decreed through laws passed in 1795 and 1805, which established that both the Royal Printers and other printers in the kingdom should send a copy of each printed work to the Library regardless of size, volume, subject and nature. Nowadays Legal Deposit is governed by decree law 74/82 dated March 3rd and decree law 362/86 dated October 28th. Besides the legal deposit, through incorporations, gifts and acquisitions, over time the Library has gathered documents and printed matter which are, without a doubt, the richest in the country thus helping to make it the most complete repository of Portuguese bibliography and culture.

As a general research library, the National Library mainly serves the academic community and individual scholars. The role of the National Library in the national information infrastructure is fundamental to the library community and the professionals. It is the body responsible for standards in the field of documentation and information, it acts as the co-ordinating body for the national union catalogue and is particularly active in inter-library co-operation and standardisation and in promoting the use of information technologies in library services. The National Library provides a wide range of professional services, such as training and consultancy, bibliographic services, technical publications and library applications developed on CDS/ISIS (UNESCO).

Since 1796, the National Library has developed a collection which is estimated at approximately 2.5 million books which are organised under the following categories:

Old and rare books

Printed works

About 38,000 works dating from the 15th to the 20th century, which include outstanding items such as: old Portuguese printed works, incunabulae (1,500 items), important collections of foreign printers such as Elzevier, Plantin, Manuzio and Bodoni, and most importantly, the Camoniana, a comprehensive collection of works by and about Camões.

Manuscripts

40,000 documents dating from the 12th to the 20th century. Particulary important are the valuable collections such as Alcobacenses (from the Cistercian Monastery of Alcobaça), the Illuminated Manuscripts and the collection of parchments.

Archives

10,000 lodging units (packets, boxes and books) of important collections of public and private archives dating from 11th to the 20th century, which include items from monasteries and convents as well as by purchases and donations. The Archives includes some outstanding collections such as that of the Biblioteca Nacional since 1796 and of the Marquis de Pombal.

Archive of Portuguese Contemporary Culture

126 collections of personal papers, mostly literary manuscripts, by the most relevant Portuguese writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Eça de Queirós, Fernando Pessoa, Virgílio Ferreira, Vitorino Nemésio and José Saramago. This collection also includes papers from political personalities within the same periods.

General Collection (Monographs)

2,300,000 volumes/800,000 titles dating from the 16th to the 20th century, mostly current and retrospective Portuguese bibliography, formed by Legal Deposit and by purchases and donations of cultural interest.

Serials

50,000 titles/12,000 in publication, mostly Portuguese printing, the 19th century newspaper collection being particulary noteworthy. The oldest title is Gazeta da Restauração (1640).

Maps

6,700 documents dating from the 16th to the 20th century, including important nautical charts from the outset of the Discoveries and both original and printed Portuguese and foreign atlases and single maps.

Prints

115,000 items, including prints, drawings, albums, posters and picture cards, mostly by Portuguese authors, covering periods from the 16th to the 20th century. The collection includes some outstanding works by famous foreign artists such as Callot, Piranesi, Rembrandt, Dürer, Debrie and Quillard.

Music

About 65,000 items dating from the 12th to the 20th century, including prints and manuscripts, important 18th century Portuguese originals and the largest collection of choir-books in the country.