Biblioteca Nacional del Ecuador Eugenio Espejo National Library of Ecuador

Overview

The Biblioteca Nacional del Ecuador Eugenio Espejo (BNEE) is Ecuador's national library, named after the writer, journalist, physician, and independence precursor Francisco Javier Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo (1747–1795), who served as its first director. It is a decentralized operational entity of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (Ministerio de Cultura y Patrimonio) and serves as the principal public repository for the nation's printed cultural heritage.

History and Founding

The library traces its origins to a public library established in 1791–1792 from the bibliographic holdings of the Jesuit Colegio Máximo de San Ignacio de Loyola, following the expulsion of the Jesuits from Ecuador. Eugenio Espejo himself directed this earliest incarnation. The library was formally designated as the national library by President Vicente Rocafuerte in 1838. After an earthquake in 1859 and subsequent administrative transfers, the library passed through several institutional homes, eventually coming under the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana in 1944. In 2017, it was reconstituted as an autonomous decentralized entity of the Ministry of Culture and Patrimony. Since February 2020, it has operated from its current premises in the historic Antiguo Hospital Eugenio Espejo building in Quito.

Collections and Holdings

The library holds an estimated 1.4 million items. Its colonial-era fund, inherited from the Jesuit Colegio Máximo, includes texts from the 15th through 17th centuries in Spanish, Latin, and French. The hemeroteca (newspaper and periodical archive) contains Ecuadorian press dating back to 1822. Other special collections include manuscript donations from prominent Ecuadorian intellectuals, maps (including the Mapa de Requena of 1779), and audiovisual materials. The library is a member of ABINIA (Asociación de Estados Iberoamericanos para el Desarrollo de las Bibliotecas Nacionales) and the Biblioteca Digital del Patrimonio Iberoamericano.

Access and Usage

The library is open to the public and offers reading rooms, an audiovisual hall, and digital access to selected collections. It is located at the intersection of Luis Sodiro and Valparaíso streets in Quito.