Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences

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LIBRARY OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (BAN) (1 Birzhevaya Line), founded in 1714 by the decree of Peter the Great as His Majesty’s Library (also called public and state library). The bulk of its collection was formed of the books of Aptekarsky Prikaz (Ministry of Health), the Library of the Dukes of Courland and the Library of the Gotthorps. In 1725-47, it was called the Imperial St. Petersburg Library, and in 1747-1917 - the Library of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1917-25 it was known as the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and in 1925-92 as the Library of Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The library has been known under its present name since 1992. In 1727, the library was entitled to a free copy of all publications of the Academy of Sciences, and since 1783, it has been receiving a copy of every Russian publication (until 1810 it was the only library in Russia with such a collection). In 2002, the Library of the Academy of Sciences encompassed the Central Library and 31 specialised research libraries of scientific and research establishments of the St. Petersburg Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. As of 2002 the library contained over 20,000,000 Russian and foreign books, manuscripts, maps, engravings, etc., including over 8 million journals and over 26,000 newspapers. The manuscript department treasures documents spanning the period between the 5th and the 20th centuries in Old Russian, Slavonic, Greek, Latin and Western European languages of exceptional value. During the fire in February 1988, about 300,000 publications were lost and approximately 3,000,000 volumes were damaged (the lost collections have been partially restored). The system of the Library of Russian Academy of Sciences encompasses 49 reading halls with a seating capacity of 1,163 (with 15 reading halls located in the Central Library), annually serving over 33,000 readers. The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences is the All-Russian branch centre of the inter-library exchange system, exchanging books with 2,000 establishments from 77 countries of the world. The library enjoys the legal status of a research institute in the field of library science, bibliography, information science, bibliology, academic commentary, conservation and restoration of documents, library and archive safety. It issues bibliographies, manuscript descriptions and catalogues. In 1728, the library moved to the Kunstkammer; in 1911-14 a special building designed by architect R.R. Marfeld was built for the library and the library opened its doors again in 1925.

References: История Библиотеки Академии наук СССР, 1714-1964. М.; Л., 1964; Книжные сокровища: К 275-летию БАН СССР. Л., 1990; Леонов В. П. Судьба библиотеки в России. СПб., 2000.

V. P. Leonov. Marfeld Robert Robertovich
Peter I, Emperor
Birzhevaya Line/Saint Petersburg, city, house 1
История Библиотеки Академии наук СССР, 1714 - 1964. М.; Л.
Книжные сокровища: К 275-летию БАН СССР. Л., 1990 St. Petersburg Scientific Centre of RAS
Kunstkammer
1728
1988