National Library of Belarus

The National Library of Belarus (Belarusian: Нацыянальная бібліятэка Беларусі, romanized: Natsyyanal'naya bibliyateka Byelarusi, Russian: Национальная библиотека Беларуси, romanized: Natsional'naya biblioteka Belarusi) is the largest library in the Republic of Belarus,^[1] located in Minsk. It houses the largest collection of Belarusian printed materials and the third largest collection of books in Russian behind the Russian State Library (Moscow) and the Russian National Library (Saint Petersburg).

National Library of Belarus
Нацыянальная бібліятэка Беларусі (Belarusian) Национальная библиотека Беларуси (Russian)
Location	Minsk, Belarus
Established	September 15, 1922
Collection
Size	~10 million items
Other information
Director	Roman Motulski
Website	www.nlb.by

Building

Construction of the new building started in November 2002 and was completed in January 2006.^[1] The library's main architectural component has the shape of a rhombicuboctahedron. The height of the building is 73.6 metres (241.5 feet) and weight is 115 000 tonnes (not including books). The building has 23 floors. The National Library can seat about 2,000 readers and features a 500-seat conference hall. The library's new building was designed by architects Michaił Vinahradaŭ and Viktar Kramarenka and opened on 16 June 2006.^[2] The National Library of Belarus is the main information and cultural centre of the country. Its depository collections include about 10 million items of various media.^[3]

Observation deck

An elevator leading to the library's roof, located on the twenty-third floor, is present on the backside of the building. The roof has an observation deck equipped with binoculars arranged over the perimeter. There is also a café and a gallery on the twenty-second floor.^[4]

Interesting facts

National Library of Belarus at night

• Saddam Hussein donated half a million dollars (it was around 2-3 million) for the construction of the library.^[5]
• The building is also the subject of an art video by French artist Raphael Zarka, "Rhombus Sectus", shown at the Bischoff/Weiss gallery, London, in 2011.
• The building is featured heavily in the music video Discotheque (Дискотека) by the Belarusian rock band Molchat Doma, from their album Monument.^[6]