The origin of the university library goes back to the donation by the distinguished Valencian Francisco Pérez Bayer of his entire personal library in 1785. It was inaugurated in 1788 under the deanship of Vicente Blasco. Preparing a space to house the bibliographic collection led to other building improvements and the initial consolidation of the facades, following a design by Joaquín Martínez. Subsequent donations have served to expand the library’s collection of volumes. During the Napoleonic Wars, however, a bomb was dropped on the building, causing a major fire that wiped out a significant portion of the collection. The disappearance of this treasure prompted other important members of the institution to donate their collections as well. The carpenter Mauro Comín made the cabinetry from pine and pear wood, with carved pilasters and ledges along the walls. The library was reopened in 1837 with this new design.
The Duc de Calàbria Hall houses a significant portion of the university’s bibliographic treasures, and is also used for displaying the finest and most valuable copies in the collection.
The hall is named after Fernando de Aragon, Duke of Calabria, who donated his magnificent collection of Neapolitan manuscripts to the monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes, founded by the duke himself and his wife, Germana de Foix. As a result of the Spanish confiscation in 1836, these books were then added to the collection of the library at the Universitat de València.
Another important collection of manuscripts from the 16th to the 18th centuries hails from the Convento de Predicadores. The collection is rounded out by other illuminated manuscripts, geographical and botanical atlases, and a very fine portolan chart drawn in 1546 by the Majorcan cartographer Jacobus Russus.
Also on display in the hall are a globe and a star chart by Willem y Joan Blaeu, created in Amsterdam midway through the 17th century. They are unique and well-preserved objects that should indeed receive the spotlight as part of the university’s valuable artistic collection.
The origin of the university library goes back to the donation by the distinguished Valencian Francisco Pérez Bayer of his entire personal library in 1785. It was inaugurated in 1788 under the deanship of Vicente Blasco. Preparing a space to house the bibliographic collection led to other building improv...
