Franciscan Archives and Library, Kamnik
Background
Founded in 1493 and built in 1495, the Franciscan Monastery in Kamnik was under Austrian administration until 1683 and under Bosnian-Croatian administration from 1727. The building was an educational institution and today’s building retains its Seraphim College. The building has been restored together with the old library and archives.
Collections
The library contains 10,000 units, at least 25 of which are original incunabula from the period 1450-1500. The library also contains around 3,000 books dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. Original prints include the Bible by Jurij Dalmatin (1584), the Pentateuch (the first part of the Bible with five books of Moses (1578, one of only six examples in the world) and Valvasor’s The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola.
The archives consist mainly of birth, death and marriage records. Older documents are preserved at the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (ARS).