The Civic Library is the second richest and the most illustrious library in Verona, after the Capitolare one: it conserves 700 thousand books and printed pamphlets, 8,000 sixteenth century books, 3,500 manuscripts and 1,200 incunabula, as well as between 50 thousand photographs, prints, engravings, invitations, maps and architectural drawings.
It was established in 1792 at the behest of the City Council and was the Hall of Theology to be designated as the first physical location of the Civic Library. Opened to the public in 1802, it expanded later in the big halls that had belonged to the Church of San Sebastiano and the Jesuit College.
Its growth was abruptly interrupted in January 1945, when an air raid destroyed the wing located in the former church. The library reopened in post-war environments using ancient convent, while in the adjacent area bombed a building to house the new warehouse of books and the conference room was built by the architect Pierluigi Nervi.
As of February 2005, the Public Library was subject to a major renovation, which was completed in September 2011: in addition to the restored spaces , the Library can now count on a new fully glazed entrance.
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