!!!Nationalbibliothek, Österreichische

Nationalbibliothek, Oesterreichische: The late Medieval Ducal library 
of the Habsburgs was the foundation of the former Imperial Court 
Library, which passed into the possession of the Republic of Austria 
as "national library" in 1920, it has been called "Austrian 
National Library" since 1945. On the international scale the Austrian 
National Library, with its holdings of historical works, various 
unique and priceless cultural treasures and scientific works (in 1997 
inclusion of the Viennese  Genesis, the Viennese Dioskurides and the 
Austrian National Library´s other Greek manuscripts in the 
UNESCO list "Memory of the World"), ranks among the 
world´s first-rate libraries and can be compared to those of 
Rome, London, Paris and Munich.

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Its central position among the libraries of the Republic results from 
several factors: In the Research Organization Act (FOG 1981), its task 
is defined as the collection and recording of all literature published 
in Austria (including university publications); in the course of the 
centuries the Austrian National Library has become the central library 
in the field of the humanities in Austria and literature on Austrians; 
it is also in charge of the realisation of central tasks in Austrian 
librarianship such as publishing the Austrian bibliography, 
librarianship training and the administration of the Austrian 
periodicals´ database "OeZDB".

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The oldest book on record at the Austrian National Library was owned 
by Archduke Albrecht III: the Holy Gospels of Johannes von 
Troppau (1368). Emperor Friedrich III brought together all the 
books owned by the Habsburgs, his son Maximilian I enriched the 
collections not only with his own work ("Theuerdank" and 
"Weisskunig"), but his marriages to Maria of Burgundy and the Milanese 
Bianca Maria Sforza also brought a large number of precious 
manuscripts into the collection. Famous humanists such as K.  Celtis, 
J.  Cuspinianus and others came to Vienna and made their literary 
treasures accessible to scientific use. In 1575 Hugo Blotius was 
appointed by Maximilian II to the first official post of librarian of 
the library, which then contained 9000 vols. Among the later prefects 
of the library Peter  Lambeck and Gerard van  Swieten were of special 
importance. In 1737 Prince  Eugène´s private library 
"Eugeniana" (15.000 vols.) was acquired, whose books are bound in red, 
green and yellow marocco leather. Today they are situated in the 
central oval of the Hall of State.

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The baroque Hall of State was constructed according to the plans of 
J.B. Fischer von Erlach by his son Joseph Emanuel; its elaborate 
interior decoration and the dome fresco by D. Gran make it one of the 
most beautiful library halls of the world. Between 1767 and 1773, N. 
Pacassi added two wings projecting at right angles and thus created 
the Joseph´s Square, impressive for its stylistic purity. In the 
course of the enlargement of the library, the Court library absorbed 
the south wing and major parts of the neighbouring Augustinian 
monastery. In 1906 the Augustine reading room (more than 100 seats) 
with a ceiling fresco by J.B. Bergl, 1773, was opened.

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1966 saw the creation of spacious new public areas in the Neue 
Hofburg. In 1992 these new enlargements were extended again, when a 
4-storey subterranean depot serving as a modern storage room for books 
was opened in the Neue Hofburg on the side of the Burggarten. Today 
the Austrian National Library can store 4 million books and offers 
reading rooms for broadsheets, micro-format and audiovisual material.

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Apart from central departments in charge of the increase and purchase 
of holdings, library use and information, the Institute of Restoration 
and a librarians´ training department and other technical 
departments, the Austrian National Library also has the following 
collections: 1. The collection of incunabula, old and precious prints: 
it was founded in 1995 and stores the historic holdings of 
publications (up to 1850) of world importance. It contains the 
third-largest collection of incunabula worldwide, the libraries of 
several historic persons such as the libraries of the humanist W.  
Lazius, the Augsburg patrician P. E. Fugger and Prince 
Eugène, the Ambras collection of books and the holdings of the 
old University of Vienna. 2. The collection of manuscripts, autographs 
and posthumous works: founded in 1816, it contains illuminated 
manuscripts, Slavic, Oriental, Islamic, Indian and Mexican manuscripts 
and also an extensive collection of autographs and posthumous works by 
famous personalities. 3. The collection of maps and globe museum 
(second-largest in the world), founded in 1905. 4. The music 
collection, founded in 1826, contains especially many scores and first 
editions from the 19%%sup th/%  and 20%%sup th/% century (A. Bruckner, 
R. Strauss and others). 5. The collection of portraits, the picture 
archives and the fideicommissum library, founded in 1921; 
Austria´s most important collection of picture documents 
including prints, graphics, positive and negative photographs. 6. The 
world-famous papyri collection, founded in 1899, based upon a 
collection of Archduke Rainer. 7. The pamphlets, posters and exlibris 
collection. 8. The Austrian literature archives. 9. The Esperanto 
Museum.

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