National Library of Peru

The National Library of Peru is a national library located in Lima, Peru. It is the country's oldest and most important library.

Related Topics:
National library - Lima, Peru

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The library was founded by José de San Martín in 1821, after he donated his collection of books and praised the new library as: "... one of the most efficient mediums to place into circulation our intellectual values". The library has various duties, among which it must formulate, conduct, supervise, and evaluate the fulfillment of policies and plans of development of library service within a national and international sphere for educational purposes. These and other administrative decisions concerning the library also depend on the ministry of education of the country.

Related Topics:
José de San Martín - 1821

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Historically, the library has passed through various phases of restructuring since its foundation. During the War of the Pacific, the Chilean army, after taking Lima, confiscated various items along with much capital stock from the library. Peruvian author and scholar Ricardo Palma, who was director of the library in 1884, noted in one of his recounts that of the 30,000 works the library possessed before the war, only 300 were left at the end of the occupation. There are current talks between the director of the library and Chilean authorities on identifing works which might belong to Peru that would be eventually returnable. Another significant event the library has gone through was a fire which almost completely destroyed the grounds of the library on May 10, 1943, in which various highly valued historical works were lost. A new building was erected on the same grounds of the old library along with a training center for future librarian administrators.

Related Topics:
War of the Pacific - Ricardo Palma - May 10 - 1943

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