Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno

Overview

The Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno, commonly known as the Biblioteca Nacional, is Argentina's principal depository library, housed in a brutalist building in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires that is a National Historic Monument. Since 1996 it has held the status of a decentralized, autonomous body charged with custodizing, expanding, preserving, cataloguing, and disseminating the country's printed cultural memory.

History

The library was created by decree of the Primera Junta on September 13, 1810, under the name Biblioteca Pública de Buenos Aires, with Mariano Moreno, secretary of the governing junta, as its principal driving force and first "Protector." Its founding collection drew on books confiscated from Bishop Rodrigo de Orellana, accused of conspiring against the new government, along with donations from the Cabildo Eclesiástico, the Colegio San Carlos, Manuel Belgrano, and Luis José Chorroarín. It opened to the public on March 16, 1812. The library was originally located in the Manzana de las Luces at the corner of what are now Moreno and Perú streets. It gained the designation "Nacional" in the 1880s; writer Paul Groussac served as director from 1885 until his death in 1929 and moved the library in 1901 to a monumental building at México 564, originally built for the National Lottery. Jorge Luis Borges served as director from 1955 to 1973 in that building. Law No. 12.351 designated land in Recoleta, formerly the site of the Palacio Unzué, for a new headquarters; a national architectural competition in 1962 was won by Clorindo Testa, Francisco Bullrich, and Alicia Cazzaniga, and the current building opened April 10, 1992, inaugurated by President Carlos Menem. In 2013, Law 26.807 renamed the institution the Biblioteca Nacional Doctor Mariano Moreno.

Collections, Holdings, and Publications

The library's holdings grew from more than 17,000 volumes in 1823 to about 62,700 by 1893, and today comprise approximately 2.1 million items, including books, periodicals, sheet music, photographs, and audiovisual materials, along with the largest newspaper archive in Latin America. Its treasury holds some 11,000 rare volumes, mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries, including 21 incunabula and a page from the Gutenberg Bible, as well as the personal libraries of Manuel Belgrano and José de San Martín. An annex, the Museo del Libro y de la Lengua, opened September 29, 2011, and was renamed for Horacio González in 2022.

Access and Usage

The library maintains public catalogues, both online and on-site, using the Aleph integrated library management system adopted in 2010. Its Departamento de Archivos holds the Fondo Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno, available for public consultation.