Biblioteca Marucelliana
The Marucelliana Library or Biblioteca Marucelliana, is a public library, founded by the mid-18th century, and located on Via Camillo Cavour # 43, in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.
History
The library was opened to the public on September 18, 1752. It was willed by Abbot Francesco Marucelli, (died in Rome, 1703), as a library of general knowledge open to a wide audience, as indicated by the inscription on the facade: "Marucellorum Bibliotheca publicae maxime pauperum utilitati". The core of the collection derives from the library of Abbot Francesco.
Funded by the income of various abbeys, Francesco lived in Rome, where he was sometimes consulted as an expert in the Canon Law. His only publication, was a bibliographic compendium in fifteen volumes, Mare Magnum, of the contents of his library and or those of his acquaintance.
The building was commissioned by the grandson of the founder, Alessandro Marucelli (died 1751). Also a bibliophile himself, Alessandro expanded the entries in Mare Magnum to 24 volumes, and fulfilled his grandfather's will by selecting the site for the library on Via Condotti. He also donated his own books and appointed Angelo Maria Bandini as first librarian, a post he held for the fifty years. Alessandro died before the construction was complete. The original collection numbered about 6000 manuscripts, in all disciplines.
Bandini established the first alphabetic catalogues of the works, by author and by title. Mare Magnum was expanded to 111 volumes. Bandini concurrently served as the librarian for the
The second librarian,
The late nineteenth-century English novelist George Gissing used the library on a number of occasions in early January 1889.[1]
In 1910, a law demanded that nearly all printed public works from Florence and nearby provinces also be deposited in the Marucelliana.
Art and architecture
The edifice was built to house the library. A public contest to create the design had two main submissions, one by the Roman architect Alessandro Dori, and by the Florentine architect Giovanni Filippo Ciocchi. Dori had chosen Via Cavour as a main entrance, while Ciocchi chose a side street. A committee, which had access to the compelling wooden model, ultimately chose the less costly Dori model.
Construction (1747–1751) was directed by Dori; and by the late eighteenth century, space appeared tight. Currently, the complex has expanded beyond the original premises, into the adjacent Palaces Della Stufa and Pegna, and the ground floor of the Palazzo Fenzi Dardinelli.
The wooden model of the Library is on display, 104 cm high, 55 wide and 135 long. The model is detailed complete with the interior plans, including the Reading Room, as well as that of the access staircase.
The main reading room has a bust of Francesco Marucelli (1749) by Pietro Bracci and a plaster portrait of Giacomo Leopardi (1885) by Adriano Cecioni. A portrait of Francesco Marucelli has been attributed to Davide Canoniche.
At the base of the grand staircase there is a marble statue of Minerva, donated to the library by Giovanni Filippo Marucelli, bailiff of Malta.[2]
Collections
The library presently contains over a million volumes, including 490
References
- ^ Pierre Coustillas ed. London and the Life of Literature in late Victorian England: the Diary of George Gissing, Novelist. Brighton: Harvester Press, 1978, pp.117-20.
- ^ Marucelliana library official website, history.
- ^ Marucelliana website.
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