National History Library of Ukraine

National History Library of Ukraine [Національна історична бібліотека України; Natsionalna istorychna biblioteka Ukrainy]. A library in Kyiv specializing in historical literature. It was founded in 1939 as the State History Library of the Ukrainian SSR on the basis of several religious libraries in Kyiv. The building was destroyed during the Second World War and most of its books (approximately 500,000 volumes) were stolen or perished. The library reopened in 1952 on the grounds of the National Kyivan Cave Historical-Cultural Preserve. It was reorganized in 2009 and assumed its present name. Its collection consists of over 800,000 volumes in various languages relating to the history of Ukraine, archeology, numismatics, ethnography, philosophy, the history of art and literature, and the history of religion. The department of rare books and manuscripts (established in 1964) contains over 20,000 valuable rare books and manuscripts of Ukrainian and foreign origin.

[This article was updated in 2017.]