- Address: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Giv'at Ram, Jerusalem, 9139002, Israel;
- Foundation date: 1892;
- Website: nli.org.il;
- Phone: +972 74-733-6336;
- Work time: Mon, Tue., Wed, Thu, Sun. - 09-19: 45, Fri. - 09-13, Sat. - closed.
One of the main cultural attractions of Israel is its National Library. The main collection of books of the state is located on the campus "Givat Ram" in the Hebrew University. The library has already collected more than 5 million books, some of them are extremely rare manuscripts.
National Library of Israel - history and description
The National Library of Israel was founded in Jerusalem in 1892, it was the first open library in Palestine, to which any Jew could come. The building was located on Bnei Brit Street, but after 10 years, a move to Ethiopia Street took place. In 1920, the Hebrew University began to be built, library books became accessible to young people. When the university was opened, it was decided to redirect the books to Mount Scopus.
In 1948, the building could not be reached, it was closed to everyone, most of the books were redirected to another room. At that time, the library contained more than one million books, and places were sorely lacking, so some books were located in the warehouse.
In 1960, they founded a building on the campus "Givat Ram", where the entire collection was located. At the end of the same year, all buildings on Mount Scopus were reopened, library branches were set up, which made it possible to slightly relieve the attendance of the central building on the Givat Ram campus. In 2007, the building was officially recognized by the National Library of Israel.
What is interesting about the library?
The library's library collection has thousands of copies in Hebrew and other languages of the world, letters and autographs of outstanding people of world renown, music records and even microfilms. The library collected about 50 thousand books in Russian. The main fund is a collection of books about the Jewish people, its history of origin and culture, which are written in Hebrew, there are manuscripts that lead the history of their existence since the Xth century of our era.
In addition, the library stores manuscripts in the language of Samaritans, Persian, Armenian and other languages. Also here are photos of such outstanding people as Agnona, Weizmann, Heine, Kafka, Einstein and many others. In 1973, it was decided to open a film archive, where a collection of Jewish themes is mainly kept.
The National Library of Israel is equipped with university reading rooms and a common hall, where 30 thousand books are openly available. All these premises can accommodate over 280 thousand people. To ensure the normal operation of the library, it employs 140 librarians and 60 technical staff.
Since 1924, the Jewish National Library has started publishing its quarterly Kiryat Sefer, which includes information on new bibliographic publications, as well as literature reviews and reviews.
How to get there?
The National Library of Israel can be reached by public transport, there is a bus number 27, departing from the Central Bus Station.