The SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library () is the

national library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, situated in the capital city of

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. Founded on 4 April 1878, the library received the status of Bulgarian National Library three years later and the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...

Archive was merged into it in 1924. It is named after "SS. Cyril and Methodius";

Saints Cyril and Methodius Cyril (; born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (; born Michael, 815–885) were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs". They are ...

. They are the creators of the

Glagolitic alphabet The Glagolitic script ( , , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Saints Cyril and Methodi ...

. The

Cyrillic alphabet The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Easte ...

is named after Cyril. The present building of the library is among the landmarks of Sofia. It was designed by the famous Bulgarian architectural team Vasilyov- Dimitur Tsolov and completed in the period 1940–1953.

History

The SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library is currently the largest public library in Bulgaria and the oldest cultural institution after the country's liberation, and also houses one of the richest Ottoman archival collections. In 1878, Mikhail Bobotinov, a teacher and secretary of the City Council in Sofia, proposed to establish a public library for the need of cultural and educational development in Sofia. The library was then arranged and open in december 1878 and finally received its own building in 1900. In 1939, a new building began construction, but sadly in 1944 both the new and old building were destroyed during a bombing in Sofia. In 1953, the National Library opens its new building under the name "Vasil Kolarov". It was not until 1963 that the library was renamed from "Vasil Kolarov" to "St. Cyril and Methodius".

Notable collections

The main aims of SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library since its establishment was to collect manuscripts, old printed books, and all books in Bulgarian language or by Bulgarian authors written in a foreign language. Later a fund of Slavic and foreign language manuscripts was formed. Among the first entries were the rich personal libraries of the historian Prof. Marin Drinov and the poet Petko Slaveikov, as well as collections from different churches and monasteries. Two collections were formed in the National Library – consisting of Bulgarian and of Oriental documents respectively. Since its very beginning, the institution acquired the character of historical archives. Georgiev, Lyubomir. Challenges and opportunities in the preservation of manuscript and documentary heritage in the National Library in Sofia
�� In: Посебне збирке у контексту заштите културног наслеђа и као подстицај културног развоја: зборник радова са међународне конференције Одељења посебних фондова Народне библиотеке Србије, Београд, 2-4. октобар 2017. 2019. , p. 554. * Slavonic Scriptures, a collection of more than 1,700 originals dating from the 11th to the 19th centuries. * Greek and other Foreign Scriptures with around 200 monuments, 9th to 19th century. * Eastern Scriptures, containing around 3,100

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, 500 Ottoman, and 150

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

codicies, dated 11th to the 19th centuries. * Various archives of Ottoman, Arabic, and Persian documents, catalogued under the Collection of Oriental Archives and the Newer Turkish Archives and 328 separate funds, each sorted by geographical criteria, covering a period from the 15th until the first quarter of the 20th century. Both collections contain over 500,000 units, 714 registers (''defters'') and 168 ''sidjals''. * Old Print, Rares and Valuables, a collection of about 30,000 volumes in

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

, Bulgarian and foreign languages, covering a period from the 15th until the 20th century, plus a collection of Bulgarian Renaissance press from the period before 1878. * Old Print Books from the Orient, a collection of around 2,000 volumes in Arabic, Turkish and Persian, covering a period from 1593 to the first quarter of the 20th century. * Bulgarian Historical Archive with over 1.5 million documents under 700 separate archives covering the work of Bulgarian revolutionaries, economic, cultural and public people from the 18th until the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the history of the independence struggle in

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

and Eastern

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

(see

History of Bulgaria The history of Bulgaria can be traced from the first settlements on the lands of modern Bulgaria to its formation as a nation-state, and includes the history of the Bulgarian people and their origin. The earliest evidence of hominid occupation ...

). * Portraits and Photographs, a collection of over 80,000 photographs and illustrations.

References

External links

Official website of the National LibraryWeb catalogue of the National LibraryOriental Collections Department
{{coord, 42, 41, 41, N, 23, 20, 10, E, region:BG, display=title 1878 establishments in Bulgaria Library buildings completed in 1953 Buildings and structures in Sofia Education in Sofia Libraries in Bulgaria

Tourist attractions in Sofia Libraries established in 1878 Rebuilt buildings and structures