At the National University Library of Turin, an exhibition on cultural gift, featuring 300 years of books

Until March 22, 2024, the National University Library of Turin is hosting the exhibition La cultura del dono. Three Hundred Years of Books, dedicated to the theme of gift in the cultural sphere, the result of three years of work on some of the book collections kept at the Institute: 17,000 volumes and 11,000 pamphlets that are the protagonists of a major reorganization, valorization and digitization plan. A 3D portal has also been created where it is possible to browse through some of the books virtually. The main nucleus of this patrimony consists of the gifts that arrived after the great fire of 1904 at the Library’s old headquarters in Via Po, which triggered an immediate competition of solidarity.

Set up in the Juvarra Exhibition Hall, the adjoining atrium and the Historical Room of the National Library, promoted by the National University Library of Turin and produced by Culturalpe and Hapax Editore, the exhibition has a twofold level of narrative: one systematic, which deals with the difficult path of the acquisition of the material, made explicit through three guiding characters, a timeline and accompanying texts, and the other thematic, in which the richness and variety of the gifts are narrated by the volumes themselves, physically organized into fifteen narrative strands. Among the themes offered are Gifts from the Sixteenth Century, A Fragile Elegance, A Pamphlet for Every Occasion, Books that Heal, and Bound Especially for Me. Vittorio Amedeo II, the library’s founding king; Erminia Caudana, the restorer who led the restoration workshop established after the 1904 fire for more than fifty years; and Stelio Bassi, the director who moved the library from its Via Po location to its current one in Piazza Carlo Alberto, accompany visitors to discover the more than eighty volumes featured in the exhibition.

Hours: Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free admission.

At the National University Library of Turin, an exhibition on cultural gift, featuring 300 years of books

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