New building of the Russian National Library

2005 marks the 210th anniversary of the founding of the Russian National Library. All these years the Library has served Russian culture, science, education and society. Located in the historical center of St. Petersburg, the Library is the cultural dominant of the Northern capital along with the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, the Alexandrinsky and Mariinsky theaters and other cultural centers.

The buildings occupied by the Library are architectural monuments and belong to the objects of cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia. The Russian National Library is known all over the world and occupies an honorable place among the national libraries of the world due to its history, unique collections of handwritten and printed documents in all languages of the world.

Its funds include about 34 million works of print and other information resources available to a wide range of users. Every year, RNB employees issue more than 12 million copies and serve almost 1.5 million visitors – representatives of science, education, business and production spheres, culture and art.

Preserving cultural and historical traditions, the Library looks to the future. The “digital revolution” that took over the world made adjustments to the understanding of the place and role of the NWF in the modern world. By the beginning of the XXI century, from a book depository and a “quiet place for reading”, it turned into a public information center for storing and issuing digitized texts necessary for scientific work, obtaining knowledge.

Its rich funds and intellectual potential are becoming increasingly available to a wide range of readers. Like other major libraries in the world, NLL strives to preserve, develop, exploit its unique resources with the greatest benefit to society, promote their dissemination, work in cooperation with other libraries.