 he Franciscan library of the Convent in Assisi began in 1230, following the first residence in the shelter of the Basilica. The original location of the library is not known, but documents of the XIV century describe it as "public" and "secret", situated on the western side of the cloister of Sisto IV. Today the original section of the library is divided into three rooms.
Because of the increasing of books, on this room was built the superior library, finished about 1450.
The invention of the printing press caused the abandonment of manuscripting. Subsequently, some of the manuscripts went lost, especially during the looting of the Napoleonic troops.
In 1902 the Library and the Franciscan Archives were moved to the town center, and they were returned to the Sacred Convent in 1981, after the Concordat of 1929 recognized the ownership of the Holy See of the precious Archives. Not being possible to use the original old center, by now greatly modified, it has been relocated in one of the oldest and monumental sections of the convent.
References:
B I B L I O T E C A
CENTRO DI DOCUMENTAZIONE FRANCESCANA
Sacro Convento di San Francesco
Piazza San Francesco, 2
06082 A S S I S I (Perugia) - ITALIA
Tel. (0039) 075 8190093
E-mail: centrodf@sanfrancescoassisi.org
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