Spain has a huge cultural legacy and that is reflected in many of its buildings and even in many of its libraries they are authentic works of art and are worth visiting . During the pandemic, museums and libraries have served many users to distract themselves by looking at virtual tours of their facilities.
Now many of these libraries are open to the public and it is a perfect occasion to try to visit some of the oldest and most fascinating in Spain.
Library of the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial
It was Felipe II who ordered the construction of this magnificent and imposing library in San Lorenzo del Escorial . It has one of the most impressive collections in our country with more than 1,400 manuscripts of Latin codices, and that centuries before, in 1671 it had more than 4,000 but a fire destroyed a good part of them.
In addition, its collection has manuscripts of all kinds of Greek, Hebrew or Arabic origin.
Jerez central library
Jerez de la Frontera has one of the most impressive and interesting libraries in our country. Founded in 1873 , it has a whopping 106,000 volumes of all kinds and it is the oldest library managed in the Community of Andalusia.
It includes volumes of the aerodynamic legacy of Darío Vecino and an extensive collection of cinema and posters of the seventh art.
Salamanca University Library
It is one of the oldest libraries in Spain in 1254, just 36 years after the founding of the University of Salamanca itself . Its historical legacy is incalculable with hundreds of volumes of art, culture, history and all kinds of documents of enormous heritage value.
Menéndez Pelayo Library
In Santander they can boast of having one of the most interesting libraries in our country and with a really extensive collection of original historical manuscripts. It is part of the Menéndez Pelayo house-museum and its inauguration was in 1923.
Since this year, the Menéndez Pelayo Library has more than 42,000 volumes between manuscripts and correspondence of legacies of very important authors in our country. These manuscripts make this library one of the most complete in heritage from the 18th and 19th centuries.
National Library of Spain
Finally, talking about libraries in our country is talking about the National Library, one of the most impressive in Europe. Founded in 1711, it is the most complete and the one with the largest heritage in Spain . There are more than 30 million volumes of documents, magazines and publications produced in Spain and with one of the most complete digital collections in Spain.
