Oldest surviving private library celebrates 400 years of history

About 120 years after the establishment of Malatestiana Library, another historic library — Laurentian Library, or Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana — was opened in Florence. Under the patronage of the Medici family, the library was designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti. The library, which is now home to more than 11,000 manuscripts, is not only one of the oldest libraries in the world but also a great example of the combination of art and architecture.

Silvia Scipioni, director of the library, attended the Tianyi Talk online and said in addition to traditional preservation methods, some collections are available via electronic devices, enabling distant readers to engage.

"The three libraries, which have been continuously operating for hundreds of years, are miracles in the development of world civilization. Although the Tianyi Pavilion is far away from the others, and the social and cultural circumstances are different in China and Italy, they shoulder the same responsibility to preserve cultural heritage," Zhuang said.

During the event, the three directors signed the "Ningbo consensus", which writes: "No matter how the world changes and means of cultural preservation develop, books are always one of the most precious parts of human civilization. Libraries, the major way to preserve book collections, have their unique cultural and historical values.

"As three of the oldest existing libraries in the world, we will work together on protection of the library buildings, research on book collections, and promote book culture. We will also make efforts to further develop modern book culture.

"In pursuit of the common development of ancient libraries, we will launch various communication activities, such as exchange visits and exhibitions, and build a broad platform to deepen cooperation."

In addition, the three libraries also called for greater efforts to build a world library alliance to promote communication between institutions around the world, so that ancient books can benefit people in the modern age.

Yu Yin in Ningbo contributed to this story.