Uppsala University Library

Uppsala University Library (Swedish: Uppsala universitetsbibliotek) at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, consists of 11 subject libraries, one of which is housed in the old main library building, Carolina Rediviva. The library holds books and periodicals, manuscripts, musical scores, pictures and maps.

The exact site of the library during its earliest years is not known, but the university from its foundation in 1477, was located on what became known as "Student Island" in the Fyris River, where the academy mill – now the provincial museum – was later built. In 1566, King Eric XIV donated the old chapter house, south of the Uppsala Cathedral, to be used for lectures. After the construction of the Gustavianum in the 1620s, this building was referred to as the Collegium vetus or Gamla akademien ("the old academy"), until it was renamed in 1704 through a decision of the (university board) and called the Academia Carolina, in honour of kings Charles IX, Charles XI and Charles XII. When a new library building was eventually constructed, it received the name Carolina Rediviva, "the revived Carolina", in honour of the old building, but was located to an entirely different place.

As of approximately 1871, the library contained approximately 200,000 volumes and 8,000 manuscripts, including the Codex Argenteus.

The library remained in Gustavianum, which luckily escaped the flames in 1702, until Carolina Rediviva was completed in 1841. Carolina Rediviva has since retained the status of central library of the university until a reorganization in the 1990s did away with the concept of a centralized library organization and divided the library into a number of branch libraries of equal status, with Carolina being home of one of the branch libraries dedicated to humanities and social sciences. Nevertheless, the central functions of the library system largely remain in the building, as do the "cultural heritage units" (the Department for manuscripts and music and the Department for maps and prints).

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