Tip 1: Where is the largest library in the world?

Culture and Society

Tip 1: Where is the largest library in the world?

Any library is a fount of wisdom andtreasury of culture. Everyone who has ever been in the library probably felt an involuntary awe: hundreds of volumes neatly laid out in places of storage, contain not only information about the achievements of civilization, but also the thoughts of many generations of writers. This is especially true of the largest collection of books in the world - the Library of Congress.

History of the founding of the Library of Congress

Founded at the beginning of the XIX century, the LibraryThe Congress was originally located in the Capitol building in Washington. But her archives gradually grew and expanded, so later she moved to another building. Its second name was given to the library in honor of Thomas Jefferson. It was his personal collection of books that formed the foundation of the library foundation. The Library of Congress was formed in April 1800, when US President Adams signed a legislative act to transfer the country's capital to Washington from Philadelphia. One of the points of the law provided for the allocation of funds needed to purchase books needed by Congress. There was also allocated a special room for the book depository, where at first the entrance was opened only to senior US officials. The library was constantly updated with new publications. By the mid-60s of the XIX century, its funds were already almost a hundred thousand volumes. For those times it was, however, not too much, if we take into account the size of large European libraries. Soon, the government of the United States passed a law according to which a copy of any new publication that appeared on the territory of the country must necessarily be transferred to the Library of Congress.

At the end of the XIX century, the doors of the library opened to ordinary citizens.

The largest library in the world

Subsequently, three new buildings wereLibraries of Congress, two of them tower on Capitol Hill. Today, in this world's largest repository of books, there are more than one hundred and thirty million units of storage that include paper books, handwriting, cartographic materials, notes, photo documents, video and audio recordings. It affects the linguistic diversity of the library materials: there are about four hundred and seventy languages represented here. Any person who is sixteen years old can access the library funds. But only use the archives of the book depository is possible only inside the premises. And there are a lot of them: the library is equipped with eighteen reading rooms, where almost one and a half thousand people can fit.

Only a few categories of readers have the right to take books out of the building. They are judges of the Supreme Court, members of the US Congress and some other officials.

Every year, the Library of Congressone and a half million people. To serve the readers, the library has an impressive staff of employees - more than three and a half thousand. The visitors have convenient reading rooms, in the silence of which you can safely immerse yourself in reading books and studying archival materials. Undoubtedly, the Library of Congress is the greatest national asset of the American people and an object of cultural heritage.

Tip 2: Where and when the first public libraries arose

Library, repository of wisdom and evidencehistory, today it seems like anew. Thanks to new forms of education, libraries are keeping pace with the times, attracting new visitors. Now the library can not only take a book at home or work in the reading room, but also listen to the lecture, get acquainted with the exhibition, participate in the master class. Once, at the dawn of its existence, public libraries also enjoyed immense popularity.

Where and when the first public libraries appeared

Public, that is, open to public access,libraries did not begin immediately. In ancient times, knowledge, fixed on a certain carrier, was very expensive. The knowledge itself was not intended for everyone: only rulers of states, priests and high officials knew how to read. The carriers of information - papyrus, parchment, clay tablets - also had great value due to the laborious manufacturing process or the high cost of materials.

Treasures of ancient civilizations

The oldest known library isthe library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. It was built in the capital of the Nineveh state in the 7th century. BC. E., in the royal palace, and served, in addition to the storehouse of useful knowledge and literary works, and also the state archive. This huge library, which presented historical science with invaluable evidence of the life of Ancient Mesopotamia, certainly was not public. The well-known Alexandria Library in Egypt, founded in the III century BC, was more accessible to a wide range of visitors. Being the largest library in the ancient world, in modern terms it was more like an academy or a scientific institute: scientists from different countries lived and studied there. In 237, the main building of the Alexandria Library died in the fire after a series of endless wars and raids by the Romans.

The Greek word

The highly developed civilization of the Egyptians Greeksborrowed the form of a papyrus book-scroll, and then the arrangement of large book depositories. The very word "library" came from the Greek words "biblioteka" - the book and "teka" - the place of storage. The ruler of Athens Pisistrat collected a rich collection of books, which he gave to his native city: the first public library in Greece appeared. The Roman culture originates in Ancient Greece. From there came to Rome fashion for private libraries: many politicians, public figures and simply rich people collected books in their estates. Their book collections were open to friends, students and admirers.

Ideas by Julius Caesar

The idea of creating a public library in Romebelonged to Julius Caesar, who became an unwitting culprit for the destruction of part of the library in Alexandria. However, to realize his idea, Caesar did not have time: the first Roman public library was founded five years after his death, in 39 BC. e. Guy Assiniy Pollion, formerly a military man, and after a public figure. The public library was created with funds received from military booty, and was located in the Temple of Freedom in the Atrium. The first public library became a platform for reading new works, their criticisms and discussions, speeches of speakers. The creation of such a library was of great cultural importance: thus, to the treasures of literature, those circles of readers who could not afford to create their own personal libraries were given access.