Seminary Library, Ljubljana
History
The idea to establish a scientific library accessible to the wider public was born in Academia operosorum Labacensis, which was led by the provost Janez Krstnik Prešern. The members of the academy strove to modernise the city by setting up new institutions, one of them being a new library. The founding charter of the new library was signed by the provost, by the cathedral dean Janez Anton Dolničar, and by the Ljubljana bishop Sigmund Herberstein, who agreed the new library be opened during the day, the books would not be lent, and the contents would comprise also personal collections of the deceased academy members.
The library grew when the library founders passed away, their books were kept and when construction on a new seminary – Charles Institute – began in 1708, there were also designs for the library hall. In 1721 its ceiling was painted by the Italian painter Giulio Quaglio who previously worked at the cathedral, and the carpenter and carver Joseph Wergant provided beautiful oak cabinets and bookshelves in 1725. When a Regional Academic Library was founded by the Empress Maria Theresa in 1774 in Ljubljana, the seminary library remained available to the priests and seminarians. When the University of Ljubljana was founded in 1919, a new library of the Faculty of Theology was established.
Collection
The "old" library's collection comprises 7,000 units, among them 22 incunabula, 377 Latin, German, and Slovenian manuscripts and a special collection of opera librettos. The famous little Latin Bible from the 13th century is called Hren's Bible.
See also
External links
- Seminary Library, Ljubljana web page (in Slovenian)
- Seminary Library on Wikipedija (in Slovenian)
- Academia Operosorum Labacensium on Wikipedia