Bergen Public Library ( no, Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek) is a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

building and

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

institution in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Founded in 1872, it is the second largest public library in Norway. In addition to the main building in Bergen's city centre, Bergen Public Library operates nine branch offices and the library service in Bergen's two

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

History

In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Bergen and

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

were the main centres of literature in Norway,

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

and

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Ch ...

es containing the majority of books and libraries. St Mary's Church in Bergen possessed a large book collection that was open to the public. In 1766, vicar David Schønfeldt donated a large amount of books and money to the collection, allowing the church to construct a separate building to contain the library. Open two hours a day, this was the predecessor of the current library. In 1876, the church's collection was handed over to Bergen Public Library, where it was kept until the collection was deposited in the University Library of Bergen about a century later. In 1869, university

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

Paul Botten-Hansen put his book collection, consisting of 12,000 volumes, for sale. A newly founded association decided to found a public library in Bergen, based on Botten-Hansen's collection. After the purchase of the collection in 1871, the association offered Bergen municipality to acquire the collection, on condition that it would cover the costs of operating a library. The first library building was located on

Torgallmenningen Torgallmenningen, Torgalmenningen, or Torvallmenningen, is the main square of Bergen, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and ...

, in a former brewery. This building would soon prove itself too small, however, and the library moved to the meat bazar, located along the inner harbour of the bay of Vågen. In 1910,

Arne Kildal Arne Kildal (10 December 1885 – 7 December 1972) was a Norwegian author, librarian and civil servant. Background Arne Kildal was born in Kristiania (now Oslo, Norway). He finished his secondary education in 1903 and took his cand.philol. d ...

became chief librarian, and continued the effort to provide the library with its own, modern building. The current building, built in the

neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style, is designed by architect

Olaf Nordhagen Johan Olaf Brochmann Nordhagen (16 March 1883 – 6 November 1925) was a Norwegian educator, architect, engineer and artist. He is most commonly associated with his restoration designs for Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Biography Olaf N ...

and was erected in 1917, after he won the 1906 architect competition. Bergen Library Interior Panorama

References

Om biblioteket
*

External links

Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek

{{Authority control Libraries in Norway 1872 establishments in Norway Library buildings completed in 1917 Buildings and structures in Bergen Education in Bergen

History

References

Further reading

External links