The National Library (BNE) will have a new facility in Tres Cantos following the Ministry of Culture's acquisition of a property for over 5.8 million euros. This space, covering over 10,000 square meters of land and more than 6,800 square meters of built area, will house documentary collections for at least the next twenty years, addressing a structural need for the institution.
The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, and the director of the BNE, Óscar Arroyo, recently visited the premises. The building will be dedicated to the custody and conservation of materials, with a particular focus on already digitized periodical publications.
A strategic action that will allow us to reinforce the conservation, digitization, and custody capacity of our documentary heritage.
Urtasun described the purchase as "a strategic action" to enhance the conservation and digitization of documentary heritage. He emphasized the National Library's role as the custodian of the nation's written memory, stressing the obligation to preserve every book, newspaper, and magazine as part of a collective history.
We are talking about protecting our collective memory, conserving the documentary heritage that explains who we are, and ensuring that future generations can continue to access it.
The Minister of Culture argued that this expansion goes beyond a mere increase in available space, focusing on protecting collective memory and guaranteeing future access, reflecting the strategic importance the Ministry places on this infrastructure.
In addition to its role as a deposit, the building will house some of the BNE's digitization equipment and various technical services, optimizing spaces and centralizing operations that require specialized conservation and climate control conditions.
The National Library will now begin analyzing the property's adaptation needs. Subsequently, the Ministry of Culture will tender the design for the renovation project, which will include reorganizing spaces, climate control, and upgrading electrical systems to ensure optimal preservation conditions for the documentary heritage.
