49-709: Koninklijke Bibliotheek ( Royal Library in English) may refer to: Royal Library of Belgium , the country's national library, in Brussels Royal Library of the Netherlands , in The Hague Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Koninklijke Bibliotheek . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
98-589: A Louis XVI-style interior; and the Palace of Charles of Lorraine . Other major tourist attractions are located within walking distance: Brussels Park , the Royal Palace , and the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula . The remains of the ancient palace and adjacent building have been extensively excavated below present ground level, and preserved with a partial concrete cover. The remains can be visited via
147-588: A leisure home. After 1430, when Brabant was annexed through inheritance by Burgundy , Philip the Good ordered the building of new wings for the palace, further embellishments to the park, and the building of the Aula Magna , a gigantic hall for royal receptions and other pageantry . The first regular meetings of the States General , composed of delegates from the middle class, clergy and nobility of
196-452: A palace, which did not go beyond the stage of sketches, for lack of money. In 1769, the idea germinated to clear and level the ruins of the Place des Bailles and to convert it into an esplanade intended for military parades. The plan was on the verge of completion in 1772, when another project rendered it obsolete. It was only in 1774 that Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine , Governor of
245-566: A rich American Studies collection of 30,000 books in open stacks, as well as U.S. newspapers and databases. The Royal Library is open for reference only. Patrons must be at least eighteen years of age and must pay an annual membership fee. The origins of the library lie in the Library of the Dukes of Burgundy [ nl ; fr ] , created in the 15th century by the Burgundians . By
294-676: A significant ensemble of Japanese ukiyo-e , including the single copy of Sharaku 's Actor Iwai Hanshirō IV in the role of Otoma , and Congolese watercolours from the first half of the 20th century. In addition to the Old Master and Modern prints and drawings, the collection boasts large ensembles of topographical views , portrait prints, documentary photography , posters , postcards and other printed ephemera , including but not limited to ex-libris , playing cards , wallpaper , lottery tickets and catchpenny prints . KBR's chalcography , established in 1932 as an independent division,
343-795: Is an important source for the study of early music , and holds a number of important documents such as the autograph manuscript of Johann Sebastian Bach 's BWV 995 – Suite in G minor . Among the oldest pieces of the Fétis Collection are several late 15th century manuscripts by the music theorist Johannes Tinctoris . The Music Division maintains an active policy of acquisitions through donations and purchase of documents linked with Belgian musical figures such as André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry , Henri Vieuxtemps , César Franck , Eugène Ysaÿe and Guillaume Lekeu , not to mention other European figures such as Albert Roussel , Darius Milhaud , Franz Liszt , Béla Bartók and Edvard Grieg . More recently,
392-511: Is dedicated to show the relation between word and image. The collection material is changed every three months. Moreover, the exhibition shows furnished rooms of Henry van de Velde , Michel de Ghelderode and Émile Verhaeren . In 2020, La Buveuse d'Absinthe by Félicien Rops, which was looted by the Nazis from the Jewish art collector and lawyer Armand Dorville , was found to be in possession of
441-742: Is nowadays part of the print room. The chalcography is a workshop where the art of printmaking is practiced, as well as a division that collects historical printing matrices, such as copper plates and wood blocks. Together with the chalcographies of the Musée du Louvre in Paris , the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid and the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica in Rome , this
490-470: Is one of the four surviving national chalcographies in the world. The chalcotheque in Brussels currently has more than 9,000 printing matrices from the 15th century to the present day. Among the highlights is the original copper plate of Claude Mellan 's Face of Christ (1649), famously engraved in a single spiral movement. KBR's Music Department is considered one of Belgium's most important centers for
539-622: Is particularly esteemed and includes work by major printmakers, such as Albrecht Dürer , Pieter Bruegel the Elder , Anthony van Dyck and Rembrandt . Among its large collection of drawings are highlights by major Netherlandish artists such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder , Joris Hoefnagel , Hendrick Goltzius , Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens . The Department also includes important work by Belgian artists, most notably among them Félicien Rops , Fernand Khnopff , James Ensor , Léon Spilliaert and Rik Wouters . Furthermore, KBR's print room has
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#1732780932509588-789: Is the national library of Belgium . The library has a history that goes back to the age of the Dukes of Burgundy . In the second half of the 20th century, a new building was constructed on the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg in central Brussels , near the Central Station . The library owns several collections of historical importance, like the Library of the Dukes of Burgundy, and is the depository for all books ever published in Belgium or abroad by Belgian authors. There are four million bound volumes in
637-703: The BELvue Museum , and provide an excellent presentation of this historical site. The main buildings of the palace stood on roughly the same location as the present-day museum and the Rue Royale/Koningstraat , which faces it. The adjacent chapel and Aula Magna buildings stood on sites that are now respectively part of the Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR/PSK centre) and the north corner of the Place Royale/Koningsplein beside
686-558: The Burgundian Netherlands , were held there in 1465. It was in this room that, in 1515, Duchess Margaret of Austria formally relinquished her regency over the Habsburg Netherlands to Charles of Habsburg . It was also in this same room that, in 1555, Charles V abdicated in favour of his son, King Philip II of Spain . During his reign, Charles V ordered the creation of a large market square, known as
735-547: The Chronicles of Hainaut and lavish Books of Hours. As the library’s collection expanded, new facilities were needed. Between 1878 and 1881, new wings were constructed. In 1935, the government decided to construct a new building in memory of King Albert I . Designed by architect Maurice Houyoux , construction began in 1954, and the Royal Library Albert I was inaugurated on 17 February 1969. In 2019,
784-643: The Congress of Vienna in 1815 saw the return of most manuscripts to Brussels. However, some remained in Paris, while additional works were added to the collection, many of which were not originally part of the Library of the Dukes of Burgundy. In 1827, a fire struck the Palace of Charles of Lorraine , where the library had been relocated. While the manuscripts were unharmed, the extinguishing water caused irreparable damage to dozens of leather and parchment bindings. On 19 June 1837, following Belgian independence ,
833-521: The Gothic chapel of the former palace, which had been spared by the fire. Due to the architectural clash with the surrounding neoclassical buildings, however, it was pulled down. Nowadays, on the Coudenberg, just off the south-western corner of Brussels Park , lies the Place Royale/Koningsplein , the neoclassical square built between 1775 and 1782 atop the ruins of the old palace. At the centre of
882-630: The International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML), the Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) and the Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM). The non-profit organisation Archives Béla Bartók de Belgique was created in 2002 and has its headquarters in the Music Division. KBR Museum, opened in 2020, is a museum in and around
931-563: The Musical Instruments Museum (MIM). The former Rue Isabelle / Isabellastraat ran beside these buildings; it had a significant slope, but the present surface of the Rue Royale, which parallels it, is flat, as the whole area was levelled in the 18th century. The lower rooms of these buildings partially survived the fire, and are exposed in the archaeological site. The preserved remains presently visitable comprise
980-828: The Place des Bailles / Baliënplein , in front of the palace. In the palace itself, he instructed the building of galleries and rooms in Renaissance style and the construction of the Grand Chapel in late Gothic style, in memory of his parents, Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile . In the 17th century, under their reign as the sovereigns of the Spanish Netherlands , the Archdukes Albert VII and Isabella established their court on
1029-470: The Rue Isabelle / Isabellastraat ("Isabella Street"). As art lovers, the archdukes brought to their court the best artists of the time, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens among them, to decorate the palace with their works. This impressive complex suffered several fires over the centuries. In 1679, a fire destroyed part of the roof. On the night of 3 February 1731, a fire broke out in
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#17327809325091078-590: The relics of the martyr Saint Gudula from Saint Gaugericus' chapel to the church that would later become the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula , probably corresponded to the displacement of the seat of county power from the lower to the upper town. Still, the existence of the castle is well attested in the 12th century. With the creation of the Duchy of Brabant in 1183 by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ,
1127-404: The 1356 occupation by Louis II, Count of Flanders , the castle was no longer necessary as a primary defence, and it was gradually converted from a military stronghold into a residential palace. From that time on, links were woven between the ducal house and the city; the latter took charge of some embellishment works for the palace that had become by then the dukes' principal seat of government and
1176-797: The Austrian Netherlands , proposed replacing the ruins with a monumental royal square inspired by French models such as the Place Stanislas in Nancy (1755) and the Place Royale in Reims (1759), of which it is almost an exact replica. The project was approved that same year by Empress Maria Theresa , who authorised the demolition. The first draft of the project, designed by the engineers-architects Louis-Joseph Baudour and Claude Fisco [ fr ] had planned to keep
1225-517: The Coudenberg gained in importance and was included within the first great wall built around the city. The hunting park of the dukes led down the hill to the north, a remnant of which is now Brussels Park . When, at the start of the 13th century, the Duke of Brabant preferred Brussels to Leuven, the court relocated to the Castle of Coudenberg. With the construction of the city's second wall following
1274-609: The Coudenberg. The archdukes restored the façade of the palace, transformed the buildings and refitted the apartments and gardens. For the protection of the Archduchess, as she made her way to her devotions in the cathedral (this being the height of the Wars of Religion ), the street that skirts the Aula Magna and the chapel was extended almost as far as the Church of St. Michael and St. Gudula (now Brussels' cathedral), and renamed
1323-524: The Low Countries, the direct predecessor of KBR. The ducal library, thus, forms the core of the current collection at KBR. In 1731, a fire destroyed the Palace of Coudenberg, where the manuscript collection was kept. Many valuable manuscripts were thrown out of the windows by servants in an attempt to save them, but several were lost. After the fire, the manuscripts were moved to the ground floor of
1372-447: The Palace of Orange-Nassau , on the site of today's Palace of Charles of Lorraine , which from then on was known as the "New Court". Funds were not available for rebuilding, so for more than forty years, the old palace remained in a state of ruin, known as the Cour brûlée ("Burnt Court"). Several projects for the redevelopment of this space were proposed, including the reconstruction of
1421-771: The Place Royale, one can find many museums and cultural institutions: the BELvue Museum , the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium , the Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) (the entrance of which is through the Old England building), and the Magritte Museum . There are a number of other notable buildings on the Coudenberg including the Court of Audit of Belgium ; the Royal Chapel, built in 1760–61 with
1470-633: The Royal Library are held in the Music Department, certain additional works are held in the Manuscripts & Rare Books and Prints & Drawings Departments of KBR. The Music Division was founded in 1965, building upon the more than 5,000 printed and manuscript documents that made up the private collection of the important 19th-century musicologist François-Joseph Fétis , acquired by the Royal Library in 1872. This Fétis Collection
1519-451: The Royal Library of Belgium is the biggest library in the country. It contains: The library has 6 special divisions, namely the Coins & Medals, Manuscripts & Rare Books, Maps & Plans, Music, Newspapers & Contemporary Media, and Prints & Drawings Departments. The initial basis of the collections were the library of the bibliophile Charles van Hulthem , acquired in 1837, and
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1568-517: The Royal Library of Belgium was formally established, consolidating the collections. That same year, the library acquired the Charles Van Hulthem collection, which added 70,000 volumes to its holdings. Public access to the library began on 21 May 1839, when it opened in the Palace of Industry , part of the Palace of Charles of Lorraine complex. During this period, the library’s collection grew steadily, preserving rare manuscripts such as
1617-465: The Royal Library of Belgium. Palace of Coudenberg The Palace of Coudenberg ( French : Palais du Coudenberg ; Dutch : Koudenbergpaleis ) was a royal residence situated on the Coudenberg or Koudenberg ( listen ; Dutch for "Cold Hill"), a small hill in what is today the Royal Quarter of Brussels , Belgium. For nearly 700 years, the Castle and then Palace of Coudenberg
1666-480: The Royal Library, including a rare book collection numbering 45,000 works. The library has more than 750,000 prints, drawings and photographs, 150,000 maps and plans, and more than 250,000 objects, from coins to scales to monetary weights. This coin collection holds one of the most valuable coins in the field of numismatics , a fifth-century Sicilian tetradrachm . The library also houses the Center for American Studies,
1715-494: The heights of the Coudenberg, where there was a smaller risk of floods, and from where they could dominate Brussels. The choice of this site was also undoubtedly explained by its strategic position near urbanised areas, the road leading to Leuven where their main residence was located, as well as the Sonian Forest , an important reserve for game and raw materials. In 1047, the transfer by Lambert II, Count of Leuven of
1764-423: The historical context of the manuscripts. Among the top exhibits are the 15th-century Chronicles of Hainaut , commissioned by Philip the Good with a miniature by Rogier van der Weyden . Librarium is a permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of books. The Librarium consists of 6 halls each shedding a different light on carriers of writing. In the first hall, the book emergence is introduced. The whole room
1813-410: The kitchens and quickly engulfed the entire palace. The freezing conditions made it difficult to deliver any water and the means of firefighting were very insufficient. In the morning, the palace was in ruins with many of the works of art destroyed along with the governmental archives. Only the court chapel and the walls of the Aula Magna were somewhat spared. After the fire, the court moved to
1862-538: The library of the City of Brussels , acquired in 1842, which had come to include large parts of the former Royal Library of the Low Countries (founded in 1559). KBR's print room holds the largest collection of prints and drawings in Belgium. With more than 750,000 works on paper, the collection is among the ten greatest print rooms in the world (see List of museums with major collections of European prints and drawings ). Its exhaustive collection of Northern European prints
1911-454: The library of the Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels. After the death of Charles the Bold in 1477, the ducal library passed to his descendants, but the collection faced significant challenges. Over time, the library suffered from neglect, looting, and theft. On 12 April 1559, Philip II of Spain consolidated all manuscripts at the Palace of Coudenberg, officially founding the Royal Library of
1960-501: The library was rebranded as KBR to reflect its modern role as Belgium’s national library. The following year, the KBR Museum opened, showcasing the historic Library of the Dukes of Burgundy as a permanent exhibit. Today, KBR continues to serve as a hub for research and cultural heritage, housing millions of manuscripts, books, maps, and digital records. With more than 6 million items on over 150 km (93 mi) of bookshelves,
2009-765: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Koninklijke_Bibliotheek&oldid=1108161380 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Royal Library of Belgium The Royal Library of Belgium ( Dutch : Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België ; French : Bibliothèque royale de Belgique ; German : Königliche Bibliothek Belgiens , abbreviated KBR and sometimes nicknamed Albertine in French or Albertina in Dutch)
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2058-659: The palace’s large chapel, which had been spared from the flames. During the French occupation of Brussels in 1746, about half of the Burgundian manuscripts were transferred to Paris. Although most volumes returned in 1770, the peaceful period that followed was short-lived. In 1794, during the French Revolution , the French Republic again took a large portion of the manuscripts. After Napoleon ’s defeat,
2107-662: The preservation and study of music-related documents. The Music Department maintains a rich and varied collection composed of hundreds of thousands of manuscript and printed scores, about 100,000 sound recordings, a large collection of correspondence, printed works, concert programmes, posters, photographs and other iconographic documents, not to mention varied objects such as medals, busts, casts, music instruments. The most representative pieces are part of collections of François-Joseph Fétis , Eugène Ysaÿe , Henri Vieuxtemps , Marc Danval , Yves Becko , Denijs Dille , Flor Peeters and Edgar Tinel . Although most music-related documents in
2156-506: The purchase of the Marc Danval and Eric Mathot collections enriched the Music Division's collections with tens of thousands recordings and scores of jazz , salon and other popular music from Belgium and abroad. Through legal deposit , the Music Division also acquires a considerable number of musicological works and scores printed in Belgium. The Music Division assumes an active role within various international associations, notably
2205-406: The restored Nassau Chapel of the Royal Library of Belgium. The display is dedicated to an extensive collection of manuscripts from the Burgundian era (the so-called Bibliothèque des ducs de Bourgogne or Librije van Bourgondië ). In addition to the original manuscripts of the Burgundian dukes, paintings, retables, sculptures, weapons and everyday objects from major museums are on display to provide
2254-481: The square is an equestrian statue of Godfrey of Bouillon , the leader of the First Crusade in 1096. This square is also faced by the neoclassical Church of St. James on Coudenberg , which was designed by the architects Gilles-Barnabé Guimard and Louis Montoyer and built from 1776 to 1787. In the 19th century, a dome and bell tower , as well as a coloured fresco , were added to the church. Around
2303-510: The time of Philip the Good 's death in 1467, this library housed approximately 900 manuscripts, making it one of the most prestigious collections in Europe. The illuminated manuscripts from this period included works by notable Flemish miniaturists such as Simon Marmion and the Master of Mary of Burgundy . While some of these manuscripts traveled with the itinerant dukes, the majority remained in
2352-433: The underground parts remain today. After several years of recent excavations, the archaeological vestiges of the palace and its foundations are open to the public. The exact date when the first Castle of Coudenberg was built remains a subject of debate. It is generally fixed to the middle of the 11th century, when the counts of Leuven and Brussels left the bottom of the valley of the river Senne and built their castle on
2401-467: Was the residence (and seat of power) of the counts, dukes, archdukes, kings, emperors or governors who, from the 12th century to the 18th century, exerted their sovereignty over the Duchy of Brabant and later over all or part of the Burgundian and then Spanish and Austrian Netherlands . The palace was completely destroyed in an accidental fire that broke out on the night of 3 February 1731. Only
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