El Camino de Santiago

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Plaza de San Juan s/n
E-09004 Burgos

Burgos Public Library was founded on 14th September 1871 at El Consulado Building, Paseo del Espolón. The library was transferred in 1971 to the premises of the Casa de Cultura.

Burgos Public Library belongs to the Spanish ‘Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes’, but regarding its management structure, it operates within the framework set by the agreement signed by the ‘Junta de Castilla y León’ (Autonomous Government) and the Ministry.

Some expansion works are projected in order to grow from the present 1500 square metres to 5.000.

Acquisitions, bequests and the ‘legal deposit’ material form the basis of the collection of the Burgos Public Library. Regarding old prints and manuscripts, most of these items became a part of its collections after Mendizábal’s ‘Desamortización’ (disentailment of ecclesiastical estates)in 1836, when many convents and monasteries were suppressed. Later, the Provincial Commission of Historical and Artistic Monuments was created to provide, among other things, for the custody and care of these holdings in a proper place, which permitted the founding of the ‘Biblioteca Provincial de Burgos’.

A catalogue-inventory of the books, published in 1868, lists holdings that went into the library during these years. However, it does not include the convents or monasteries where these works were kept till the ‘Desamortización’.

• General collections
• Reference works
• Loans
  • Videos and sound recordings, CD-ROM, DVD, Compact.
• Current periodicals
  • Newspaper, magazines, journals, etc.
• Material provenant from the ‘Desamortización’
  • Manuscripts: 8
  • Incunabula: 119
  • 16th to 19th centuries: 20.170.
• Special items:
  • Gutenberg Bible: The Gutenberg Bible or 42 lines Bible, (1476), belonged to the monastery of San Juan de Ortega. This copy was discovered in 1913 by Mats Martínez Burgos, director of the Library, who found the following annotation regarding this item catalogue entry: “It might be the most valuable book”. Until the 1950 the monastery it came from was a mystery. Nevertheless, in 1952, professor Cantera Burgos, in his work “Alvar García de Santa María y su familia de conversos”, mentioned a testamentary provision included in their nephew Luis de Maluenda’s last will. According to it, he bequeathed to the Monastery of San Juan de Ortega “la mi Biblia de molde grande que me cost tres mill e dozientos e cinquenta maravedíes”. But we wonder how this Bible ended up in Burgos and how it came into Luis de Maluenda’s hands. Probably, as trade relationships grew significantly in Burgos at the time and there were strong links that connected this town to the Flemish and German worlds, the role played by patrons interested in books became increasingly important.
  • ‘Biblia Románica de Burgos’, 12th century: ‘The Biblia Románica’, 12th century, comes from the Monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, where it was copied.
• Local History
  • Burgos as a subject; authors, editors and printers from Burgos.
  • Legal deposit of the books published in the Region of Castilla-León.
• Professional holding
  • 400 volumes on libraries and librarianship, history of the book.

• Biblioteca provincial de Burgos. Catálogo de Ciencias Eclesiásticas. Diputación.
  
• Índice inventario por orden alfabético de los libros recogidos por la Comisión de Monumentos Históricos y Artísticos de Burgos que han de formar en su día la Biblioteca provincial de Burgos. Burgos, Impr. T. Arnáiz 1868.
  
• Biblioteca Provincial de Burgos, en Anuario del Cuerpo Facultativo de Archiveros, Bibliotecarios y Anticuarios, 1881-1882.
  
• “La biblioteca Pública Provincial de Burgos y el Centro Coordinador de Bibliotecas“. En Boletín de la Dirección General del Archivos y bibliotecas, 29 (1995).
  
• Biblioteca Pública Provincial “Fray Francisco de Vitoria”. Burgos: Notas sobre la Biblioteca y sus adquisiciones en 1963. Burgos, Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez, 1964-1965.
  
• García Ramila, Ismael: “Un siglo exacto y medido de la existencia en la noble casona llamada “El Consulado” de nuestra Biblioteca Provincial”. En Diario de Burgos, 17 de octubre de 1971.
  
• Llacayo, Augusto: Burgos, Catedral, Cartuja, Huelgas. Monumentos religiosos, artísticos e históricos. Curiosidades y cosas notables. Burgos, Imp. Timoteo Arnaiz, 1886.
  
• Martínez Burgos, Matías: “La Biblia de Maguncia en Burgos”. En Boletín Comisión Provincial de Monumentos, 90 (1945).
  
• España. Ministerio de Educación Nacional: Biblioteca Pública de Burgos. Vademecum del lector. Burgos. Imp. de la Diputación, 1953.
  
• Ruiz de Mencia, Vicente: “A fines del siglo pasado se fundó la Biblioteca Pública Provincial”. En la Voz de Castilla, 25 de noviembre de 1973.
  
• Yarza, Joaquín: “La Biblia Románica de la Biblioteca Provincial de Burgos”. En Archivo Español de Arte. 161 (1968).
  
• Yarza, Joaquín: “Las miniaturas de la Biblioteca de Burgos”. En Archivo Español de Arte. 166 (1969).

María del Carmen Monje Maté

8.00 - 21.30 Monday to Friday; 9.00 - 14.00 Saturday.

Contact person: Marilena Buscarini
Telephone: 00 34 947 202312
Fax: 00 34 947 277410
E-mail: Carmen.Monje@bcl.jcy.es
Website: http://www.bibliotecas.jcyl.es/web/jcyl/BibliotecaBurgos/es/Plantilla66y33/1284212879414/_/_/_