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Spain

Queen Letizia visits the National Library of Spain

Her Majesty Queen of Letizia of Spain made a visit to the National Library of Spain on Tuesday of this week. The Queen visited the library to inaugurate two of the newly renovated reading rooms, the general hall, which now goes on to be called María Moliner, and the press and magazines room named Larra. Accompanied by the Minister of Culture and Sports, José Guirao, and the director of the library, Ana Santos Aramburo, the Queen was guided through the facilities of this institution using the usual path of readers and users. After crossing the main hall and the Italian hall, she reached the heart of the library.

After posing before the plaque with the names of famous librarians, she crossed the reading room to go to one of the workplaces of the library to talk to those who work there. In this workshop, the experts showed the Queen process carried out to preserve rare books. Following this Queen Letizia went to the restoration facilities where manuscripts of Spanish authors of the seventeenth century, the autograph manuscripts of the National Episodes of Benito Pérez Galdós and the magnificent books of King Carlos V are being treated for damages.

© Casa de SM el Rey

The tour continued through the department of Fine Arts where Her Majesty could see some of the objects from the library’s expensive collections. One of the jewels that has attracted the most attention has been the Madrid I Codex of Leonardo da Vinci. In addition, the manuscript Crucifixión by Federico García Lorca and a copy of the first edition of Don Quixote was presented the Queen.

The visit continued through the Larra Room and the press and magazine room. The visit was concluded with a small lecture where was presented with information on the future of the library focusing on how to adapt to the digital world. The National Library of Spain is a major public library, the largest in Spain, and one of the largest in the world. It is located in Madrid. The library was founded by King Philip V in 1712 as the Palace Public Library.

About author

Senior Europe Correspondent Oskar Aanmoen has a master in military and political history of the Nordic countries. He has written six books on historical subjects and more than 1.500 articles for Royal Central. He has also interview both Serbian and Norwegian royals. Aanmoen is based in Oslo, Norway.