Libraries

WHS containing historically significant libraries. Building and/or collection must still exist.

Connected Sites

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Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch Abbey of Lorsch is considered as the most significant library of the Carolingian period. Today, the inventory of the library is spread over more than 70 libraries worldwide
Abbey of St Gall St. Gall Library
Aleppo National Library of Aleppo
Amsterdam Canal Ring Library Ets Haim
Ancient ksours Chinguetti - a historically significant Koran library
Bahla Fort Bahla Fort's empty library
Blenheim Palace Long Library: its original books were sold, now the magnificent Willis organ is the centre piece
Botanical Garden, Padua Scientific library
Budapest Burg Library
Central University City Campus of the UNAM Central Library
Changdeokgung Palace Complex Changdeokgung Palace's Court Library in the secret garden
Cilento and Vallo di Diano Certosa di Padula
Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas The campus includes a series of large buildings, in particular ... the Library (AB ev)
Classical Weimar Anna Amalia Library
Cuenca At the Seminario
Edinburgh National Library of Scotland
El Escurial
Ephesus Library of Celsus
Fasil Ghebbi
Florence National Central Library, Laurentian Library, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Gabinetto Vieusseux
Gardens and Castle at Kromeríz
Graz Eggenberg Library
Haeinsa Temple Tripitaka Koreana Woodblocks
Hahoe and Yangdong Included in the nominated property are three Confucian academies Byeongsanseowon, Oksanseowon, and Donggangseowon. "Seowon, or a Confucian academy was a private educational institution set up exclusively for a man who had achieved outstanding learning and virtue. Its twin roles of enshrining a specific sage and educating students were reflected in its components: shrine, jeonsacheong, a building for the preparation of memorial rites, lecture hall, students' quarters (jaesa), library (jangpangak), and an elevated pavilion (nugak) where Confucian scholars held gatherings or took rests." - Advisory Body Evaluation
Imperial Palace The Qing Palace in Shenyang
Island of Patmos Monastery: containing some two thousand printed books and over a thousand manuscripts, many of them of great antiquity and beauty (AB ev)
Istanbul (Topkapi) Enderun Library
Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba Great Library of the Society of Jesus, in Cordoba's University
Karlskrona City Library
Kazan Kremlin Qolsarif Mosque Library
Kew Gardens Created 1852 - one of the world's major botanical libraries
La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle Bibliothéque de la Ville de la Chaux-de-Fonds (with murals)
Litomysl Castle in the 17th century it held 4,000 books
Macao Sir Robert Ho Tung Library (1894)
Mafra a Library, still preserving 36,000 volumes from the Portuguese Kings’ collection (AB ev)
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi a library (Kitab khana) (AB ev)
Monticello Rotunda used to be the University library
Mount Athos A number of the Monasteries on Mt Athos contain significant libraries eg Pantelemion Hilandar
Nancy
Naples Girolamini Convent Library
Nesvizh "The books of the library originated from practically all European printing houses of the period from the 15th to the first half of the 20th centuries. A map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the so-called Radziwill map, was of particular significance to Central European cartography. It was the first map in the history of cartography to give a true picture of the entire territory of Belarus and Lithuania" (AB evaluation)
Novodevichy Convent The collections of Novodevichy contain a large number of precious objects and paintings, as well as an important library, related to the life of the tsarist dynasties and the history of the country (AB ev)
Old City of Jerusalem Khaldiyya, Gulbenkian Library
Pannonhalma
Pergamon "Pergamum was home to a library said to house approximately 200,000 volumes, according to the writings of Plutarch.[3] Built by Eumenes II between 220 and 159 BCE and situated at the northern end of the Acropolis, it became one of the most important libraries in the ancient world." (wiki)
Plantin-Moretus Museum
Plečnik's Ljubljana National Library
Pompei The Herculaneum papyri are more than 1,800 papyri found in the Herculaneum Villa of the Papyri, in the 18th century, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The papyri, ..., come from the only surviving library from antiquity that exists in its entirety. (wiki)
Potsdam Gothic Library at Babelsberg Castle
Prague Strahov Monastery Library
Puebla Biblioteca Palafoxana
Quedlinburg Historische Bibliothek Quedlinburg
Rammelsberg and Goslar Marktkirchen-Bibliothek in Goslar
Regensburg At Turn und Taxis Palace
Residence of Bukovinian & Dalmatian Metropolitans Krayova Library
Residences of the Royal House of Savoy Royal Library
Rhodes Hafiz Ahmed Agha Library: "Among the most valuables there is a Koran from 1540, the history of the Turkish siege of the city in 1522, and manuscripts with Persian miniatures." (wiki)
Rila Monastery Housing 250 manuscripts and 9,000 old printed matters
Royal Palace at Caserta Palatine Library
Safi al-Din Ensemble in Ardabil "Sheikh Safi al-din ensemble consists of a range of buildings including the tomb, Khānegāh, the library, the mosque, the school...This huge building ..was called Jannat Sara, and served as the library. In the Islamic [Islamia] encyclopedia, there is an account of the greatness of the library of Sheikh Safi al-din. Today, nothing of the library is left though it has once been the largest library in Iran.....At the time of occupation of Ardabil by the Russians (1827), the religious and cultural texture of the city suffered grave losses. The library was sent to Saint Petersburg by General Peskevich, and was attached to the library of that city". Nom File - this describes how Russian troops "diverted" to Ardabil "It was only the library of Sheikh Safi al-din Ardabili's shrine which held numerous books and precious manuscripts ..... (so) though Ardabil was not on their route, and its occupation would cost expenses and efforts to them ... a group of soldiers were dispatched to Ardabil to besiege the library and take control of it". This Russian article of 1996 claims that the library was actually "purchased" and selected "with the assistance of the mosque's mufti" (see link)
Saint Catherine Area "The monastery library preserves the second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts in the world, outnumbered only by the Vatican Library. Its strength lies in Greek, Coptic, Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Georgian, and Syriac texts. The Codex Sinaiticus, now in the British Library, left the monastery in the 19th century for Russia, in circumstances that are now disputed."
Salamanca Old library of the University of Salamanca
Salzburg Zellenbibliothek at Stift Sankt Peter
Santa Maria de Guadalupe scriptorum
Santiago de Compostela The Archive-Library of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, "comprising books and documents from the Middle Ages until today; one of the main centers of the world for research on St. James."
Selimiye Mosque Within the mosque
Seville Archivo de Indias
Siena Libreria Piccolomini in the cathedral of Siena
St. Petersburg National Library of Russia, established in 1795 by Catherine the Great
Stralsund and Wismar Baroque library at St. John monastery
Sucre National Library, holding documents since the 15th century
Syracuse Biblioteca Alagoniana
Tabriz Bazaar Jafaryya Library, Kalkatachi Library (nom file)
The Porticoes of Bologna Municipal Library of Archiginnasio
Timgad Roman library
University of Coimbra Joanine Library
Valletta National Library of Malta (originated in 1555)
Vatican City "In 1475, Sixtus IV founded the Vatican Library, which is the first open to the public in Europe; the collections of manuscripts and books, prints, drawings, coins and decorative arts, constantly increased through the centuries, making it an invaluable repository of human culture." (OUV)
Venice and its Lagoon Biblioteca Marciana; San Lazzaro degli Armeni with its 150000 vol library
Vienna Hofburg Library
Villa Adriana (Tivoli) Greek Library
Wachau Cultural Landscape Stift Melk's Monastic Library & Göttweig Abbey: The abbey has a library of 130,000 books and manuscripts, and a particularly important collection of religious engravings, besides valuable collections of coins, antiquities, musical manuscripts and natural history, all of which survived the dangers of World War II and its immediate aftermath almost without loss.
Westminster House of Common's Library in Westminster palace
Yuso and Suso Monasteries Yuso

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