Royal Library, Denmark

Last updated
The Royal Library, the National Library of Denmark and the Copenhagen University Library
Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Danmarks Nationalbibliotek og Københavns Universitetsbibliotek
Den Sorte Diamant 1.jpg
The Black Diamond building, viewed from the east
Royal Library, Denmark
Location Copenhagen, Denmark
Type National library, university library
ScopeNational Library of Denmark - Main library of the University of Copenhagen - Danish Museum of Books and Printing, National Museum of Photography, Museum of Danish Cartoon Art.
Established1648(376 years ago) (1648)
(University Library founded 1482)
Reference to legal mandateNo special law. The obligations of the library are stated in the annual state budget
Collection
Size36,975,069 physical volumes,
2,438,978 electronic titles (as of 2017) [1]
Legal deposit Since 1697
Other information
DirectorMr. Svend Larsen, director general
Website www.kb.dk OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
The building of the Royal Library, Denmark, on Slotsholmen, which dates to 1906, viewed from the northwest Det Kongelige Bibliotek.jpg
The building of the Royal Library, Denmark, on Slotsholmen, which dates to 1906, viewed from the northwest

The Royal Library (Danish : Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the academic library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countries. [2] In 2017, it merged with the State and University Library in Aarhus to form a combined national library. [3] The combined library organisation (the separate library locations in Copenhagen and Aarhus are maintained) is known as the Royal Danish Library (Danish : Det Kgl. Bibliotek). [4]

Contents

It contains numerous historical treasures, and a copy of all works printed in Denmark since the 17th century are deposited there. Thanks to extensive donations in the past, the library holds nearly all known Danish printed works back to and including the first Danish books, printed in 1482 by Johann Snell. [5] [6]

History

The library was founded in 1648 by King Frederik III, [7] who contributed a comprehensive collection of European works. It was opened to the public in 1793.

In 1989, it was merged with the prestigious Copenhagen University Library (founded in 1482) (UB1). In 2005, it was merged with the Danish National Library for Science and Medicine (UB2), now the Faculty Library of Natural and Health Sciences. The official name of the organization as of 1 January 2006 is The Royal Library, the National Library of Denmark and the Copenhagen University Library. In 2008, the Danish Folklore Archive was merged with the Royal Library.

Librarians

The first librarian was Marcus Meibom, followed 1663-1671 by Peder Griffenfeld. [8] Later librarians included J. H. Schlegel, Jon Erichsen, Daniel Gotthilf Moldenhawer (1787-1823 notorious for stealing numerous books to enrich the library collections) and Chr. Bruun. Since 1900 the former librarians are H.O. Lange (1901-1924), Carl S. Petersen (1924-1943), Svend Dahl (1943-1952), Palle Birkelund (1952-1982), Torkil Olsen (1982-1986), Erland Kolding Nielsen (1986-2017), followed by the present Director General Svend Larsen.

Book theft in the 1970s

In the 1970s, the library saw the largest book theft in Danish history, with the case only being resolved in 2003. Almost 3,200 works (books and similar), mostly antiques, were stolen from the library by an employee. [9] [10] [11] Most have since been recovered, but a few hundred remain missing. [12]

Items collected

Books, journals, newspapers, pamphlets and corporate publications, manuscripts and archives, maps, prints and photographs, music scores, documentation of folkways and popular traditions, four annual electronic copies of the Danish Internet by legal deposit.

As of 2017, the Royal Library held 36,975,069 physical volumes and 2,438,978 electronic titles. [1] The online catalogue, in combination with the reading room, is still patrons' most direct form of access to the collections.

The Royal Library today

Today, The Royal Library has five sites: The main library at Slotsholmen, Copenhagen harbour (in the Black Diamond), covering all subjects and special collections; one at Nørre Alle, Faculty Library of Natural and Health Sciences; one at Gothersgade, central Copenhagen, Faculty Library of Social Sciences; one at Amager, Faculty Library of Humanities; and, one in Studiestræde, central Copenhagen, The Faculty of Law Library. The annual circulation is 11,400,000 loans (10,900,000 of these are electronic loans). The members are 32,196 active users. The annual budget: 394M Danish Kroner (58M US Dollars), including building expenses and maintenance.

The library is open to anyone above the age of 18 with a genuine need to use the collections. Special rules apply for use of rare and valuable items.

Buildings at the Slotsholmen site

The old building of the Slotsholmen site was built in 1906 by Hans Jørgen Holm. The central hall is a copy of Charlemagne's Palace chapel in the Aachen Cathedral. The building is still being used by the library.

Panoramic view of the new building opened in 1999 (taken by Peter Pihlmann Pedersen, 2013) Black Diamond, Copenhagen, by Peter Pihlmann Pedersen.jpg
Panoramic view of the new building opened in 1999 (taken by Peter Pihlmann Pedersen, 2013)

In 1999, a new building adjacent to the old one was opened at Slotsholmen, known as the Black Diamond. The Black Diamond building was designed by Danish architects schmidt hammer lassen. Named for its outside cover of black marble and glass, the Black Diamond building houses a concert hall in addition to the library.

The Black Diamond is formed by two black cubes that are slightly tilted over the street. In between, there is an eight-storey atrium whose walls are white and wave-shaped, with a couple of transversal corridors that link both sides, and balconies on every floor. The atrium's exterior wall is made of glass; so, you can see the sea; and, on the opposite shore, you can see Christianshavn's luxury buildings.

Three bridges connect the Black Diamond with the old part of the Royal Library; those three bridges (two small ones for internal transport and a big one with the circulation desk) go over the road. At the ceiling of the big bridge, there is a huge painting by Danish painter Per Kirkeby.

First page of the Primer nueva coronica y buen gobierno of Guaman Poma de Ayala Nuevacoronica.jpg
First page of the Primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno of Guamán Poma de Ayala

Significant holdings

The Royal Library acquires Danish books through legal deposit. The holdings include an almost complete collection of all Danish printed books back from 1482. In 2006, legal deposit was extended to electronic publications and now the library harvests four electronic copies of the Danish Internet each year. Danish books printed before 1900 are digitized on demand and made freely available to the public. [13] As the National library, RDL has vast collections of digital material (Danish net archive, digitized radio and TV and newspapers etc.) which are relevant for scholars in many fields. [13] The library also holds a large and significant collection of old foreign scholarly and scientific literature, including precious books of high value and of importance for book history, including a rare copy of the Gutenberg Bible.

The library holds treasures which are inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register: A collection of about 2,000 books by and about Carl Linné (1997); [14] the manuscripts and correspondence of Hans Christian Andersen (1997); [15] the Søren Kierkegaard Archives (manuscripts and personal papers) (1997); Guamán Poma de Ayala's El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno , an autographed manuscript of 1,200 pages including 400 full-page drawings depicting the indigenous point of view on pre-conquest Andean life and Inca rule, the Spanish conquest in 1532, early Spanish colonial rule, and the systematic abuse of the rights of the indigenous population (2007). [16] Biblia Latina. Commonly called the Hamburg Bible or the Bible of Bertoldus (MS. GKS 4 2°), a richly illuminated Bible in three very large volumes made for the Cathedral of Hamburg in 1255. The 89 illuminated initials in the book are unique both as expressions of medieval art and as sources to the craft and history of the medieval book. (2011); [17]

Other treasures are the Copenhagen Psalter, the Dalby Gospel Book, the Angers fragment (parts of Denmark's first national chronicle), and maps of the Polar Region. The library also holds important collections of Icelandic manuscripts, primarily in Den gamle kongelige samling (The Old Royal Collection) and Den nye kongelige samling (The New Royal Collection). Denmark's most outstanding Icelandic collection, the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, is however not a holding of The Royal Library but of the University of Copenhagen.

In 2010, the library acquired the 14th-century Courtenay Compendium at auction. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angers Fragment</span>

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The Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection derives its name from the Icelandic scholar and antiquarian Árni Magnússon (1663–1730) — Arnas Magnæus in Latinised form — who in addition to his duties as Secretary of the Royal Archives and Professor of Danish Antiquities at the University of Copenhagen, spent much of his life building up the collection of manuscripts that now bears his name. The majority of these manuscripts were from Árni's native Iceland, but he also acquired many important Norwegian, Danish and Swedish manuscripts, as well as a number of continental provenances. In addition to the manuscripts proper, the collection contains about 14000 Icelandic, Norwegian and Danish charters, both originals and first-hand copies (apographa). After being housed since Árni's death at the University of Copenhagen, in the Arnamagnæan Institute, under a 1965 parliamentary ruling the collection is now divided between there and the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík, Iceland.

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Reading Room West or The Research Reading Room at The Royal Danish Library is a part of The Danish National Library and is located in Black Diamond, the Royal Library's modern extension on Slotsholmen in Copenhagen. The history of the reading room has its roots in the foundation of The Royal Library by King Frederik III and it has been relocated several times since then.

Johan Ludvig Mansa, was a German-Danish landscape gardener. The majority of his work was in transforming formal French gardens into English landscape gardens. Some remnants of his works can still be seen on the slope north of Marienlyst Castle in Helsingør as well as a few manors and palaces around Denmark.

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Det Kongelige Vajsenhus is a private primary school in Copenhagen in Denmark. The school has around 300 students and 25 teachers. The school has the right to print Den Danske Salmebog . The school was originally a combined orphanage and school, founded by Frederick IV of Denmark in 1727, and the institution was given a number of privileges, such as the right to manage a factory and a book printing shop. From 1740, it had the right to print Bibles and psalmbooks, and during the 18th century, it was a center for Pietism in Denmark.

The great book theft was the largest book theft in Danish history. Almost 3,200 works, estimated in 2003 to have a value of DKK150-300 million, were stolen from the Royal Library in Copenhagen. The perpetrator was an employee at the library who stole the works between 1970 and 1978, but the case was only resolved in 2003. Most works have since been recovered, but a few hundred remain missing. It has been called the most significant cultural theft in Denmark since the Golden Horns of Gallehus were stolen in 1802.

References

  1. 1 2 "Årsrapport 2017 for Det Kgl. Bibliotek" (PDF) (in Danish). Det Kgl. Bibliotek. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  2. ↑ "Det Kongelige Bibliotek". Den Store Danske (in Danish). Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  3. ↑ "Det nye nationalbibliotek kommer til at hedde Det Kgl. Bibliotek" (in Danish). Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  4. ↑ "The new Royal Danish Library". Royal Danish Library. 12 Sep 2016. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  5. ↑ "Det Kongelige Bibliotek / National Library of Denmark". The Conference of European National Librarians (CENL). Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  6. ↑ "Johann Snell". Den Store Danske (in Danish). Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Tidslinie for Det Kgl. Bibliotek". Det Kongelige Bibliotek (in Danish). Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  8. ↑ Albert Fabricius: Det kongelige Biblioteks Embedsmænd og Funktionærer 1653-1943, 1943
  9. ↑ Olsen, Jan (2003-12-11). "Police close to solving library thefts 25 years on". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  10. ↑ "Det Store Bogtyveri" (in Danish). Det Kongelige Bibliotek. 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  11. ↑ "Milliontyveri fra Det Kongelige Bibliotek". TV2. 4 April 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  12. ↑ "Det Kgl. Bibliotek efterlyser stjålne bøger". Jyllands-Posten. 2 February 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  13. 1 2 Larsen, Svend (December 2018). "Royal Danish Library". Alexandria: The Journal of National and International Library and Information Issues. 28 (3): 174–176. doi:10.1177/0955749019880118. ISSN   0955-7490. S2CID   211440972.
  14. ↑ "The Linné Collection". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. 2008-05-16. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  15. ↑ "Manuscripts and correspondence of Hans Christian Andersen". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. 2008-05-16. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2009-12-15.
  16. ↑ "El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. 2008-05-16. Archived from the original on 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2009-12-15.
  17. ↑ "MS. GKS 4 2°, vol. I-III, Biblia Latina. Commonly called "the Hamburg Bible", or "the Bible of Bertoldus"".
  18. ↑ Peter Jackson (2016), "The Testimony of the Russian 'Archbishop' Peter Concerning the Mongols (1244/5): Precious Intelligence or Timely Disinformation?", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 26 (1–2): 65–77, doi:10.1017/s135618631500084x, S2CID   159541347 .

55°40′25.77″N12°34′55.95″E / 55.6738250°N 12.5822083°E / 55.6738250; 12.5822083

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