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14/08/2017. Minister of Culture of Russia Vladimir Medinsky: I'm sure that the National Library will become one of Petrozavodsk's citizens’ favorite places
The Minister of Culture of Russia Vladimir Medinsky came to Karelia on a working trip.
First, he visited the National Library, where the historical part of the building is being prepared for opening after the restoration.
Accompanied by the Acting Head of Karelia Arthur Parfenchikov, Vladimir Medinsky inspected a large reading room under the dome of the rotunda, a room where the book automate is located, an information kiosk and other rooms. The excursion to the historical part of the building was held by the Head of the Library Marina Nikishina.
The reconstruction of the National Library is carried out with the support of the federal budget within the framework of an agreement concluded between the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Government of Karelia.
The work is carried out under the supervision of the State Commission for the preparation for the 100th anniversary of the Republic. Vladimir Medinsky is a member of the working group No. 1 of the State Commission.
In 2014, the Minister of Culture of Russia Vladimir Medinsky took part in solemn events dedicated to the completion of the first stage of reconstruction of the National Library.
Then he noted the need to preserve the historical appearance of the building, including the fretwork of the Soviet era.
− Even then, the library surprised me with modern approaches. The function of the book stacks is gone, and the function of enlightenment, teaching and cultural leisure still remains. Therefore, the library should organize many interesting events, literary cafes, book exchange, meetings with readers and writers, said Vladimir Medinsky.
The Minister of Culture suggested that for the development of the library a bookshop should be built there, and the staff - the main experts in this field - could select literature for it.
In the opinion of the Acting Head of Karelia, it will be possible to hold meetings of the Military Historical Society in the large reading room.
− The second stage of reconstruction has pleased me very much, because it is sustained in the best traditions of good architecture, the restoration is carried out with great respect to the historical building where the library is located. I'm sure that the National Library will become one of Petrozavodsk's citizens’ favorite places, said Vladimir Medinsky.
The National Library of Karelia was opened in 1833 as the Public Library. In 1959, the library moved to this building on the Pushkinskaja Street. The library fund is more than 1,6 billion documents on all fields of knowledge on different media. The library has been reconstructed since 2009. The first stage of reconstruction, which resulted in opening of new halls in the annex, was completed in December 2014. Now the restoration work is coming to an end in the historical part of the library building.
During the reconstruction the reading area of the library has doubled, there have appeared large reading rooms for 120 and 40 seats, a conference hall for 250 seats, multimedia, computer and exhibition rooms, a language laboratory, places for individual work of readers and comfortable recreation areas.