COURAGE

łączymy kolekcje

The St. Cyril and St.Methodius National Library is currently the largest public library in Bulgaria. It is the oldest cultural institution of Bulgaria, established in 1878 as the "Sofia Public Library". The library received its own building in 1900.  In 1939, the construction of a new building began, but in 1944 both the new and old buildings were destroyed during allied bombardments of Sofia. In 1953, the National Library opened its new building under the name "People’s Library Vasil Kolarov", named after one of the leading Bulgarian communists, who was a leading functionary in the Communist International, and prime minister of Bulgaria from 1949 to his death in 1950. In 1963, as part of the process of strengthening national identity and reaffirmation of Bulgarian Mediaval history,  the library was renamed into "Cyril and Methodius" library, named after the famous monk, who created the Glagolitic alphabet for their translation of the Bible into Slavic. The Cyrilic alphabet is named after Cyril. The so-called "Apostles to the Slavs" are honored in Bulgaria with festivities on 24th of May, which is the official state holiday "Day of the Slavonic Script and Bulgarian culture". After the collapse of the communist regime, "Saints" was added to the names of the two missionaries in the official designation of the library.

In 1994, the National Library was declared a cultural institute of national importance. In 2009, with the Law for Public Libraries, the institution's name changed from "People’s Library" (Narodna Biblioteka) to "National Library" (Natsionalna Biblioteka).  

The National Library is a mandatory depository for all documents published in Bulgaria: books and periodicals. It contains also special collecitons with items from the Bulgarian cultural heritage, such as manuscripts, incunabula, old books, maps, prints, photographs, and private archives donated to the library. The National Library collects and stores official editions; cartographic and graphic publications, musical publications and others from countries around the world, and functions as a national information center. The library fund contained 8,040,804 registered units at the end of 2016.

During the communist regime, public access to many publications, books, and magazines, was forbidden, as they were placed in the so-called Special Collection. But the literary (and partly musical) legacy of the period of socialism is kept; the Library hosts many collections which reflect the cultural opposition against the communist regime. Through a range of cultural, educational and informational initiatives and events, the characteristics of the culture from the period of state socialism and the forms of opposition are discussed and popularized.

The National Library performs various public activities. Only in 2016, there have been more than 130 exhibitions. NCBM also conducts extensive research activities and participates in national and international projects and programs: Europeana. Culture. Denken; The European Library; World Digital Library; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; Memory of the World. The library organizes public outreach activities, such as the literary event series "Club Pismena" and "Galeria da dumite".

Since 2006 the library implemented digitization programs, with the result that many documents of cultural value and old periodicals have become accessible online (http://www.nationallibrary.bg/wp/?page_id=1337).

The State Archives in Osijek (SAO) conducts the organised protection of archival materials and supervision of in the field emerging archival materials in the area of Osijek-Baranja County. It consists of eight departments, has a reading room with eight seats, a small lecture hall with 30 seats, and the storage space full of archival materials. Today, the SAO holds more than 7,300 linear meters of archival records, arranged into more than 1,720 archival funds and collections. The earliest preserved archival record dates from the end of the 17^th century. The documents written before 1848 are mostly in Latin, which was the official language, but there is a considerable amount of material in German, written in the cursive Gothic style. Since 1848, the records were mostly written in Croatian, less in German, and very little in Hungarian and Serbian (Cyrillic).
After World War II, a new approach to dealing with archival records as cultural heritage was adopted. An archival storage facility (sub-station) of the State Archives Office in Zagreb was established in Osijek in 1947. From then on, we can speak of the systematic and organised protection and supervision of archival records in this institution. In 1956, the Archives became an independent organisation – the Archives in Osijek. In 1957, the Communist Party Archives were established as a part of the Archives. It collected, processed and published historical sources regarding the history of the Workers' Movement, the Communist Party and the Partisan struggle during World War II. This archive was integrated into the then Historical Archives of Osijek in 1962.
Until 1971, the Archives were located in Kuhačeva street no. 27. Due to the increasing need for archival storage, the Archives were moved (1972-1975) to the present location in Kamila Firingera street no. 1. The building has 2,000 square meters of space, broken down into 1,500 square meters of storage space, a workshop of 100 square meters, with the rest divided among offices and workrooms. The Archives Building was severely damaged in the Homeland War in 1991/1992. It was entirely reconstructed in 1996. It is a first-class cultural monument in the Osijek fortress, and it is protected as an urban heritage site.
In 1993, all of the regional archives (including the SAO), had to change their names into the Historical Archives. The newest name change came in April 1998, and since then the Archives carry the current name: State Archives in Osijek. Its territorial jurisdiction included the areas of three counties - Osijek-Baranja, Vukovar-Srijem and Virovitica-Podravina - but since 1 May 2009, it has been limited to Osijek-Baranja County.

The State Archives in Vukovar were established by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia on 11 January 2007 (as published in Narodne novine 7/2007) with its address in Vukovar, Županijska street no. 66. It began to operate in the following year. When the autonomous archival institution was founded, the conditions were created for the performance of archival services independently in the whole territory of Vukovar-Srijem County. Until then, such archival services were rendered by the Archival Collection Centre in Vinkovci, a department of the State Archives in Osijek, Vojarska 1. Pursuant to the aforementioned Regulation, the State Archives in Vukovar concluded an agreement stipulating a delimitation with the State Archives in Osijek, which became effective on 1 January 2009. Under this agreement, the assets, archival records and staff of the Archival Collecting Centre in Vinkovci moved from the State Archives in Osijek to the jurisdiction of the State Archives in Vukovar. The Archives contain archival records from the socialist period, which may be used to research the system of regime control. It shows the regime's surveillance practices in various public and party institutions which were applied during the socialist era in the territory of Vukovar-Srijem County. 

Archiving has a long tradition in the city of Zadar, dating back to medieval times, when Zadar was a part of the Republic of Venice. In 1390, the word "archives" was mentioned for the first time on Croatian soil, in a document written by a Zadar notary (archivium communis Jadre - archives of the municipality of Zadar). In 1624, the archives of the General Administrator in Zadar were established, and this was the beginning of systematic and organised storage of documents. Such archiving practices continued after the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, both under French and Austrian rule. In the post-war period, the archives became the state archives for the most of Dalmatia, including the islands of Pag and Rab. It was counted among four largest regional archives in Croatia. Later, with the establishment of the archives in Šibenik and Split, its jurisdiction shrank to Zadar County and parts of Lika-Senj County.