Bibliothèque Nationale de France – Foundation
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France or (BnF) (National Library of France), is also known as the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, the name of the president of the French Republic who commissioned this vast and visionary project in 1988.
One of the largest and most modern libraries in the world, it opened to the public in December 1996.
The plans of architect Dominique Perrault were ultimately selected following an international competition held in 1989.
Perrault’s innovative vision, although awarded the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture in 1996, nevertheless provoked mixed reactions. Some, in fact, considered the library’s contemporary architecture a break with tradition.
Dominique Perrault’s contemporary architecture
The architecture of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France is indeed unconventional.
It features four glass towers, symbolising open books, placed at each corner of a vast esplanade made of Brazilian wood, an exotic hardwood renowned for its remarkable durability.
These towers, with seven floors of offices and eleven levels of storage, also offer numerous reading and research spaces. An efficient system facilitates the movement of books between the storage areas and the reading rooms.
Their glass and steel structure conveys an impression of lightness, balance, and symmetry, contrasting with the woven steel and concrete elements used inside. However, vibrant red carpets and opulent wooden furnishings create a welcoming atmosphere, which is conducive to research and reading.
The wide staircases of the esplanade lead down to the banks of the Seine and, on a clear day, offer an unobstructed view of the river, the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir (footbridge), and the Parc de Bercy on the Right Bank. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France has two main entrances, and the one located to the east, near the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand metro station (Line 14), is unsurprisingly the most frequented.
One of the largest libraries in the world!
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France holds a collection of over 10 million books and manuscripts, making it one of the world’s leading documentation centres.
As a public institution, it operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, which is responsible for collecting and cataloguing all publications of French origin.
Among its considerable holdings are 5,000 Greek manuscripts, divided into three distinct groups: the Ancient Greek Collection, the Coislin Collection, and the Greek Supplement Collection.
Since 1997, the institution has offered online access to its vast resources through the Gallica digital library.
To carry out its mission of preserving and disseminating knowledge, the library relies on a team of 2,700 staff members.
Bibliothèque Royale
The origins of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France date back to the reign of Charles V in the 14th century.
The king indeed assembled significant collections of manuscripts and established the first royal library in the Grosse Tour (Tower) of the Grosse Tour fortress. His valet, Claude Mallet, meticulously catalogued these manuscripts and became the first librarian of France. However, the Duke of Bedford acquired these collections in the 15th century and transported them to England, where they were dispersed after his death.
The advent of printing in 1415 marked the beginning of a new era for bibliophiles, allowing King Louis XI to build new collections, a tradition continued by his successors. Francis I, the renowned patron of the French Renaissance in the 16th century, enriched these collections with his personal treasures.
The exponential expansion of the royal collections in the following decades prompted Colbert, Louis XIV’s finance minister, to move the library to a large private mansion on Rue Vivienne. He inaugurated the “new royal library” in 1692, and Abbot Bignon created a system of catalogues listing each work within its distinct collections.
Bibliothèque Nationale de France since the Revolution
Librarians Antoine-Augustin Renouard and Joseph Van Preat became unsung heroes when they saved the collections during the French Revolution.
Van Preat not only prevented the loss of priceless texts, but he also managed to significantly enrich the library’s holdings, tripling the number of books and manuscripts from 300,000 to one million. He recovered numerous volumes from the Abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés when the building, which had been converted into an arsenal, exploded and was ravaged by fire.
He also recovered numerous volumes from the private libraries of homes, castles, and religious institutions that became “state property.” The library became state property in 1792 and was officially renamed the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Napoleon Bonaparte contributed further to the expansion of the library by bringing back many books he acquired during his conquests.
From Rue de Richelieu to the 13th district
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France was transferred to the Rue de Richelieu into premises specially designed by the architect Henri Brousse. It was briefly renamed the Imperial National Library during the reign of Napoleon III. The architect Jean-Louis Pascal was commissioned in 1896 to expand the library, which then became the largest in the world. In 1920, the collections reached 4.05 million books and 11,000 manuscripts!
However, it suffered losses during the Second World War, but the collections were gradually rebuilt over the following decades, requiring more modern and spacious premises. The construction of the new BnF complex was part of the ambitious project to rehabilitate the industrial district along the Seine riverbanks in the 13th arrondissement.
Directions: 13th district – Quai François Mauriac
Metro: Bibliothèque François Mitterrand on Line 14
Coordinates: Lat 48.834046 – Long 2.376823
