„Vasile Voiculescu” County Library

„VASILE VOICULESCU” COUNTY LIBRARY ARCHITECT STATIE (STERE) CIORTAN (1876-1940) In 1832, the teacher of the National School of Buzău, Dionisie Romano, future bishop of Buzău, established the first Romanian school library for teachers, acting as public library. Basil Iorgulescu, eminent scholar and teacher, author of reference works in the field of local history and geography, was the promoter of the establishment, in the premises of „Tudor Vladimirescu” Gymnasium of Buzău, of a public library, a project carried out on 1st September 1, 1882, when the Communal Library was founded. King Carol I, during a visit to Buzău in 1886, donated an encyclopedia to this library, and in 1887 the Royal House donated a Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture, in 16 volumes. In 1888, during another visit, King Carol I approved the Statute of the future Public Library of Buzău. On 9th November 1893, in the presence of the Minister of Religions and Education, Take Ionescu, „Carol I” Public Library of Buzău was inaugurated in Buzău, with its headquarters in the new premises of the gymnasium, moved in the meantime to Bulevardul Gării. At that time, the library had sections of letters and philosophy, art, sciences, maps and atlases, law and economics, manuscripts, numismatics, stamps and rarities. Soon, the book fund reached over 10,000 copies. Nicolae Iorga found here, in 1902, a copy of Matei Basarab’s Pravila [The Great Nomocanon], printed at Govora, in 1640, and the work Book or light, printed in 1699 at Snagov. During the First World War, „Alexandru Hâjdeu” High School was transformed into a military field hospital and stables, suffering serious damage. In the balance sheet made at the end of the war, it was mentioned that almost 25,000 volumes bound in leather and cloth had disappeared from the library, and the remaining ones were torn and incomplete. Many original editions of books printed in the West were destroyed, the rare book donation, which totalled 1254 volumes, and 9 paintings signed by Nicolae Grigorescu. During the Second World War, the Communal Palace was bombed by the Soviets and a large part of the books and archive was destroyed. After the war, the library was subjected to a severe process of purging „bourgeois” books. The books donated by Alexandru Marghiloman have disappeared for good. In 1984, the seat of the County Library was established in the current premises, which, on 27th September 1991, was given the name of poet Vasile Voiculescu, a heritage building, with 47 rooms. The current headquarters of the County Library was built between 1910 and 1914, in neo-Romanian style, made of brick, with two floors, intended as the headquarters of the Financial Administration, according to the plans of architect Statie (Stere) Ciortan (1876-1940), a student of the famous architects Ion Mincu and Ermil Pangratti, chief architect of Ministry of Finance, professor at Higher School of Architecture and Dean of the Corps of Architects of Romania between 1932-1940. The original intended use of the building was the headquarters of the Financial Administration, later becoming, the headquarters of the People’s Council of the City of Buzău, the Milice, the Agricultural Directorate and the Avicola Enterprise. The ground floor of the building includes a hall illuminated by natural light through a dome closed with a stained-glass balustrade, supported by four cylindrical columns and another four parallelepipeds, a circular staircase that rotates around an open void, with wrought iron balusters and two halls accessed by the public, with doors having an architrave with ears and supporting, in turn, a cornice. The floor is in the shape of a quadrilateral, framed by columns with capitals in Ionic style, on the sides with rooms intended for library users and a hall to other services. Access to the mezzanine and the basement of the building, where there are warehouses, is made via an internal stone staircase. The exterior windows are located inside some arches, and those on the first floor are framed between the pilasters. „Vasile Voiculescu” County Library of Buzău can be proud of the achievement of owning, after „Astra” Library of Sibiu, the most autographed books. The Special Collections Section (old Romanian and foreign books, manuscripts, autographed books, photographs, prints, correspondence and other documents) currently has over 15,000 fund units. The building of Buzău County Library is included in the list of Historical Monuments (BZ-II-m-A-02351).