Province South Holland | Size 2,500 volumes Phone +31 71 514 0879 | |
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Established 1655 (362 years ago) (1655) Address Rapenburg 25, 2311 GG Leiden, Netherlands Similar Leiden University Library, Leiden University, Faculteit der Rechtsge, Stichting Digitale Bibliothe, Bibliotheek Voorscho | ||
The Bibliotheca Thysiana was erected in 1655 to house the book collection of the lawyer Johannes Thysius (1621–1653). Upon his early death, he left a legacy of 20,000 guilders for the building of a public library ("tot publycque dienst der studie") with a custodian's dwelling. Designed by the architect Arent van ‘s-Gravensande, the building follows the Dutch Classical style and is regarded as one of the jewels of Dutch 17th-century architecture. Bibliotheca Thysiana is one of the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites. It is distinguished by its balanced proportions and the purity of its Ionic order on top of a high basement.
The Bibliotheca Thysiana is the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands of a building that was designed as a public library. It is quite extraordinary that a complete private 17th century library has been preserved and thus offers a good impression of the book collection of a young, learned bibliophile from the period of late Humanism. The collection contains about 2,500 books and thousands of pamphlets in all scientific fields.
The library has a separate special collection of several hundred books from and about Emanuel Swedenborg.