By Sarah-Claire Jordan
The National Library of France, better known as the Bibliothèque nationale de France or BnF, is one of the oldest and largest libraries in Europe. The building itself is located in the capital of France, Paris, and holds a copy of everything published in France. The mission of the National Library of France is to collect all important French documents and literature and make them available to anyone and everyone. This serves not only as a way of preserving the literary history of France, but also as a way to make all kinds of literature and knowledge accessible to the general public.
The very first iteration of the National Library of France was the royal library, founded in 1368 in the Louvre Palace by Charles V. He was a huge proponent of learning and had a collection of manuscripts and other documents that he decided would be better off as part of a royal collection, and thus the first documented library in France was born. Charles V’s valet de chambre, Claude Mallet, was the first librarian and began the process of cataloging everything in the library’s collection. This collection remained in the royal library until the death of Charles VI.
Upon Charles VI’s death, the Duke of Bedford bought the entire collection, who was the English regent of France at the time. Once he died in 1435, all of the manuscripts, documents, and books ended up scattered around, and Charles VI’s successor didn’t do much to try and gather them all up again. However, the printing press’ invention led to another collection being started. By 1537, a principle was introduced that declared that all printers or booksellers had to donate a copy of every book they printed or sold, which would become the “legal deposit” for the library.
The library doesn’t start to truly see any significant changes or growth until about 1666 when the Minister of Finance, Colbert, decided he wanted the library to move in a certain direction. His main idea was to have the library be a symbol of adoration for Louis XIV. This is when it was moved to Paris and the building that it remains in to this day. Over the next few decades, the library grows to become the largest in all of Europe and opens its doors to academics and common people alike. The French Revolution, something that should have devastated national organizations like the library, actually proved to be helpful as many works were confiscated and added to the collection when it was all over.
However, the growing collection proved difficult to house. Under Napoleon III, an addition to the library is drawn up and constructed, and the issue is fixed, for the time being. More additions are constructed later in the 20th century, with the most important occurring in 1989 under President Françoise Mitterrand who decided to turn the library into what it is today. The inauguration of the National Library of France took place on December 15th, 1996 and presented to the world one of the largest and most modern libraries to ever exist.
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