Bibliothèque Mazarine
23, Quai de Conti, 75006 Paris - 01.44.41.44.06
Bibliotheca
a fundatore mazarinea : The inscription engraved upon the
pediment of the main courtyard's eastern portico describes the purpose
of this wing of the Palais de l'Institut and carries on the memory of
its founder, Cardinal Mazarin whose arms decorate the tympanum and
whose bust sculpted by Lerambert greets the visitor. Upon
entering the main hall or reading room, one can catch a glimpse of
Mazarin's arms placed above a black marble plate that reads Salle
Gabriel Naudé, linking the founder of the library to its
mastermind Naudé. Between 1642 and 1652, Naudé took on
the task of setting up Mazarin's own library serving young Louis XIV
and his prime minister, Mazarin could boast the most important
privately owned and run library in Europe, which by 1652 contained
close to 40.000 items. These books were kept in Mazarin's hôtel
particulier, located on rue de Richelieu, where the Bibliothèque
Nationale presently stands. Mazarin decided that his library would
become part of the future College to be founded according to his
will dated 6 march 1661. The reading room, deliciously charming,
is 65 meters long with the entrance hall overlooking
the Seine. Both art gallery and study for the learned, the
Bibliothèque Mazarine recreates the surroundings of an important
XVIIth century library and its reading room, restored between 1968 and
1974, can accommodate up to 140 patrons. Depending on the nature of
their research, readers can access the 500.000 printed volumes, 2370
incunabula (including a copy of Gutenberg's Bible), 4639
manuscripts, portraits, prints, periodicals.