INK, PARCHMENT AND PAPER. Treasures of the Historical Library of the Universitat de València

The exhibition Ink, Parchment and Paper brings together facsimiles of some of the most representative works held by the Historical Library of the Universitat de València. Through five manuscripts and ten printed books from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it offers a journey through the ways in which knowledge was transmitted from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the Modern Age, highlighting the value of the written word as a means of preserving memory.

The exhibition also reflects the history of the library, founded in 1785 thanks to the donation of Francisco Pérez Bayer. Although the original collection suffered major losses in a fire during the Napoleonic invasion, subsequent donations, bequests, and the incorporation of collections resulting from the ecclesiastical confiscations enabled the creation of the present-day library, housed in the historic building of La Nau, the birthplace of the University of Valencia more than five centuries ago.

Today, the Historical Library preserves more than 100.000 items, including over 1.000 manuscripts dating from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries. Particularly noteworthy are the 226 codices of the Duke of Calabria, originating from the library of the Aragonese kings of Naples established by Alfonso the Magnanimous. Its collections also include 447 incunabula, numerous printed works from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries—many of them unique or extremely rare—as well as other remarkable holdings, such as posters and drawings from the Spanish Civil War, numismatic pieces, medals, and two seventeenth-century globes produced by the cartographers Willem and Joan Blaeu.

The Library plays a key role in the preservation, restoration, cataloguing, study, and dissemination of this bibliographic heritage. It supports university research and teaching through exhibitions, digitization projects, and cultural outreach activities.

In 2026, the University of Valencia was designated the guest university of the International University Book Fair (FILUNI). As a leading institution within the Valencian university system, it combines tradition and modernity, fostering critical thinking, innovation, and knowledge transfer, while maintaining a strong international profile.