National Library of Saints Cyril and Methodius

The SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library is Bulgaria’s national library, located in the capital city of Sofia. Founded on April 4, 1878, the Bulgarian National Library was elevated three years later, and the Bulgarian National Revival Archive was integrated with it in 1924.

It’s called “SS. Cyril and Methodius” (Saints Cyril and Methodius). They are the ones who invented the Glagolitic alphabet. Cyril is the patron saint of the Cyrillic alphabet.

The current library structure is one of Sofia’s landmarks. It was created by the well-known Bulgarian architectural partnership Vasilyov-Dimitur Tsolov and built between 1940 and 1953.

Collections

Since its inception, the fundamental goal of the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library has been to collect manuscripts, ancient printed books, and all literature in Bulgarian or published by Bulgarian writers in a foreign language. Later, a collection of Slavic and other language manuscripts was established. The extensive personal libraries of historian Prof. Marin Drinov and poet Petko Slaveikov, as well as collections from various churches and monasteries, were among the earliest submissions. The National Library established two collections, one for Bulgarian papers and the other for Oriental materials. The institution has had the appearance of a historical archive from its inception.

History

The National Library’s history is crowded with individuals and events that, in golden letters, document the establishment of the first cultural post-liberation institution. For 143 years, the Library of Bulgaria has carried out the task of Bulgarian enlightenment, strengthening the national spirit and safeguarding the literary legacy.

Mikhail Bubotinov, a Sofia teacher and City Council Secretary, advocated establishing “a public library important for the growth of Sofia in cultural and educational dimensions” in April 1878. On November 28, the same year, the library already has a statute and a temporary library commission, which is employed to prepare and open the library. The National Library’s (new style) birthday is December 10.

Thanks to Konstantin Velichkov, a law governing the deposit of printed works in national libraries was enacted 20 years after the establishment of the Bulgarian Library.

For 143 years, library work in Bulgaria has been a source of pride for many intellectuals, enlightenment campaigners, free-speech advocates, bibliographers, and librarians. The operation of storage and bibliographical registration of publishing output in the country has been legally allocated to the National Library in Sofia since 1897, when the National Assembly established the Law on the required deposit of printed publications in national libraries.

The many sorts of documents published on the country’s territory, which publishers are required to distribute free of charge to libraries, begin to develop an invincible fund that must be stored under particular circumstances in order to be preserved for future generations. Registration in the country’s current national bibliography is also done on the basis of the legislation. During the Second World War, most of the money gathered in the Archives of Bulgarian Books was lost. Their recuperation throughout the harsh postwar years proved to be a lengthy and challenging process. The Council of Ministers issued a special regulation in 1954 governing the source of papers lost from the National Library from 1944 to 1954.

Today, the Library’s fund has almost 8.5 million papers. The National Library “St. Cyril and Methodius” is Bulgaria’s biggest literary resource.