The Braidense Library as an ideal library. Exhibitions and events to promote reading and the book as an art object

The aim of the Braidense Library is to become in the future"the ideal library," according to Umberto Eco’s definition, that is, a national and international reference point for initiatives, projects, and exhibitions that enhance and promote reading and books: the library today has more than 1,500,000 volumes.

The Braidense Library intends to offer a cultural proposal different from that of the Pinacoteca di Brera, which in recent years has returned to being a museum “in the heart of its city. ”In the museum, we don’t read the paintings. In the library, we don’t look at books. The usages of the museum and the library are different. However, both are places of inspiration, consolation, creativity and study. The library is not a museum of books, it is not a tourist destination, and its exhibitions have other purposes. Cataloging is at the heart of the library’s mission: today if a book is not cataloged and made available online, it doesn’t exist," explained Brera Art Gallery and Braidense Library Director James Bradburne, arguing for the library’s total autonomy from that of the museum.

The Braidense National Library plays a significant role on the Italian and international scene: it is the third largest library in the country after the other two national libraries in Rome and Florence, and last year recorded 125,000 patrons and 35,000 readers. With its historical and contemporary collections under public protection, it provides for their cataloging, preservation and enhancement in the interest of the general and specialized public, through restoration, reproduction and protection of documents. In 2019, it acquired and catalogued for the Italian National Library Service nearly 15,000 modern volumes and 18,000 works from the ancient collections. It owns about 2,000 manuscripts, 350 of them medieval, 2,306 incunabula and 25,000 cinquecentine. Its collections also include a collection of Alessandro Manzoni’s autographs and printed books, and manuscripts include Pietro Bescapé’s Bible in Milanese dialect and a 16th-century Divine Comedy. Since 1994, the Braidense Library has cataloged its resources in electronic format, which currently exceed 1,148,523 records, but the number of material held at its branches (Brera, Mediateca Santa Teresa, Cavallerizza, Morimondo) exceeds two million titles, as does the number of digitized pages available in the digital Emeroteca. Enriching the collection with new acquisitions, cataloging the collection and preserving the books and documents, making the library’s collections available, consolidating fruition, research and ensuring the promotion of reading and study through intensive educational activities are its main missions. With its exhibitions, on the other hand, it presents works from the library’s collections, promotes the book and its importance, along with reading, writing and collecting.

For 2020, the Braidense Library will enhance the book collection as an art object through exhibitions and events.

Regarding exhibitions, the exhibition Libraries Rediscovered. Ab artis inventae origine. Stories of Milanese books, people and libraries among the fifteenth-century editions of the Braidense, which allowed the inclusion of the entire Braidense incunabulary heritage (more than 2,300 volumes) within the international MEI database. From June 3 to July 11, 2020, the exhibition Piranesi in Milan is scheduled, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Giovan Battista Piranesi’s birth, curated by Pierluigi Panza: an exhibition intended to testify to the attention that Milan gave to the Piranesi’s catalog collections. Finally, from October 1 to November 14, 2020, the exhibition La Biblioteca del Capitano: Italian Military Architecture in the Renaissance will be held, bringing together writings by Italian Renaissance architects and military engineers.

The centerpiece of a series of initiatives will be the book as an art object: from February 10, 2020, the lead book by German artist Anselm Kiefer will be on display. From Nov. 26 to Dec. 15, 2020 Book Object also includes an exhibition dedicated to bookmarks with historical pieces created by artists from around the world. Later in the year then a series of workshops led by Libri Finti and Clandestini will explore the theme of creating an artist’s book. Children’s artist books will be featured in the Fantastic Library dedicated to the complete works of Gianni Rodari (March 31 to April 6, 2020).

For info: www.braidense.it

Ph.credit James O’ Mara

The Braidense Library as an ideal library. Exhibitions and events to promote reading and the book as an art object

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