The National Library of Sweden, or Kungliga biblioteket, has been accumulating and preserving Sweden's literary legacy since 1661. Over the past four centuries, it has amassed a collection of over 18 million objects, including books, posters, pictures, manuscripts, and newspapers, and an audio-visual collection with more than 10 million hours of recordings.
The library is home to valuable collections of literature not just in Swedish, but in various other languages as well, and works by Swedish writers published abroad. It also houses over 850 broadsides of Sweden dating back to 1852.
The roots of the National Library go back to the 16th century when King Gustav Vasa collected books on history, science, and theology. Under the Chancery Decree of 1661, all book printers in Sweden were required by law to submit two copies of everything they printed. Rather than for research purposes, this reflected a desire for state control and censorship. In 1877, the library moved into a building in Humlegården designed by Gustaf Dahl, which was built using cast iron.
One of the library's most significant acquisitions was a collection of Russian literature in 1953, which formed the basis of a Slavonic library in Stockholm. It also collaborates with the Lenin Library in Moscow to exchange their nations' literature.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nik Frost
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