Korf Room of the National Library of Russia. Strolling-through-Interiors

Korf Room

INSIGHT INTO THE PAST

1887

2010s

"... The middle room houses the Russica Collection. It contains not only items on Russian history, but all pro- and anti- Russian materials in foreign languages. The room is now dedicated to Korf who was the Library Director from 1849 to 1861. A portrait of Baron Korf is the first thing that you see when you walk in the door. Modest Korf created this special department and still devotes himself to it, as an honorary member of the Library..."

"By unremitting efforts ... he assembled here more than 30,000 volumes, including many works that no one even knew existed and which are not found anywhere else ..."

Strolling through the Imperial Public Library. 1872

HISTORICAL REFERENCE

Contrary to superstitious beliefs, 13 is a significant number for the National Library of Russia. Shelfmarks for the items from the Rossica Collection begin with '13'. This is due to the sequence number of the room in which Rossica was housed for many decades. The room was named for the Director of the Public Library Modest Korf who initiated the Rossica project.

Today this room has a different purpose: it is used for holding exhibitions at the historical building of the Library.

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