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List of destroyed libraries

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Image:Birmingham Central Library fire jan1879.jpg destroyed by fire, 1879]]

file:The book urn.jpg and manuscripts, deliberately burnt in the Krasiński Library by a Nazi German Brandkommando following the fall of the Warsaw Uprising]]

Libraries have been deliberately or accidentally destroyed or badly damaged. Sometimes a library is purposely destroyed as a form of culturicide.{{cite news |last=Fadhil|first=Muna|date=26 February 2015|title=Isis destroys thousands of books and manuscripts in Mosul libraries|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/26/isis-destroys-thousands-books-libraries|newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=26 February 2015}}

There are examples of libraries accidentally destroyed by human actions. Others were damaged by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods or accidental fires.

Library fires have happened sporadically through the centuries: notable examples are the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the destruction of Library of Nalanda in India and the accidental burning of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Germany.

Causes and prevention

In earlier times mildew was considered a major problem in many libraries, and so the emphasis on library design was to increase air flow by, for example, leaving openings under the shelves in adjoining floors. In a fire, particularly one that starts on any floor except the top level, the flames would be drawn from floor to floor by the air flow, leading quite easily to the destruction of a whole library rather than just a small part.{{Cite web |date=2016-08-15 |title=Special Challenges - Fire and Fire Suppression |url=https://www.archives.gov/preservation/emergency-prep/special-challenges |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=National Archives |language=en}}

Advances in technology have reduced the possibility of a library collection being destroyed by fire. These include water sprinklers, fire doors, freezers, alarms, smoke detectors, suppression systems, and emergency generators. Older libraries are usually altered by closing up air flow openings and installing fire doors, alarms and sprinklers. Air conditioning reduces the mold problems. These are all essential parts of new library design.

There is no recovery possible if a book is burnt, so it is accepted that it is better to put out the fire with water and then dry out the books. As mold destroys paper, the books are frozen until they can be dried. This process will damage the book but not destroy it, and the information will be intact.

To reduce the chance of damage from fire, or other causes, and decrease the time needed for recovery after a destructive event, libraries need a disaster management and recovery plan. This can be an ongoing process which will include professional development following updates in technology for key staff, training for the remaining staff, checking and maintaining disaster kits, and review of the disaster plan.

In addition, fire-safety investigations are periodically carried out, especially for historical libraries. The Library of Congress, for example, underwent a year-long inspection beginning in 2000. Before the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, the Library of Congress and all Capitol Hill buildings were exempt from safety regulations.Fineberg, Gail. "Moving Toward a Safer Library. Compliance Office Issues Fire Safety Report," Library of Congress Information Bulletin 60 no. 3, 65, March 2001 Balancing historical preservation and contemporary safety standards proves to be a difficult task for "even a 12-year rehabilitation of LC completed in 1997 did not address many fire hazards".L.A., "Inspection Scorches Fire Safety at LC," American Libraries, 32 no. 3 17–18, March 2001 After the Compliance Office inspection, however, the LC announced their wholehearted commitment "to achieving the highest level of safety possible" and "the Architect of the Capitol and Library of Congress will report their progress to the Office of Compliance every three months".

Information technology is another reason for careful fire protection. With so many computers in libraries there "is a decrease in floor space and an increase in more compact and powerful computer systems" which generate more heat and require the use of many more outlets, increasing the number of potential ignition sources.Fixen, Edward L. and Vidar S. Landa,"Avoiding the Smell of Burning Data," Consulting-Specifying Engineer, May 2006, Vol. 39 Issue 5, p47-51 From as early as the 1950s the potential dangers of computer equipment, and the facilities that house them, were recognized. Thus, in 1962 the National Fire Protection Association began developing the first safety standards specifically applicable to electronic computer systems. This standard is called NFPA 75 Protection of Information Technology Equipment. FM Global Data Sheet 5–32 is another standard providing guidelines to protect against not only fire, but also water, power loss, etc.

Human action

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Image

! Name of the library

! City

! Country

! Date of destruction

! Perpetrator

! style="width:33%;"|Reason and/or account of destruction

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| Library of Zimri-Lim

| Mari

| Ancient Mesopotamia

| 1761 BC

| Hammurabi of the Old Babylonian Empire

| The kingdom was invaded by Hammurabi who defeated Zimri-Lim in battle in {{Circa|1761 BC}} and ended the Lim dynasty.Van De Mieroop, Marc (2007) [2005]. King Hammurabi of Babylon: A Biography. Blackwell Ancient Lives. Vol. 19. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0-470-69534-0. p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=ELMAGvmJ7YIC&pg=PA76 76], [https://books.google.com/books?id=ELMAGvmJ7YIC&pg=PA139 139], [https://books.google.com/books?id=ELMAGvmJ7YIC&pg=PA152 152] Mari survived the destruction and rebelled against Babylon in {{Circa|1759 BC}}, causing Hammurabi to destroy the whole city.Van De Mieroop (2007) p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=ELMAGvmJ7YIC&pg=PA76 76]

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| Library of Ashurbanipal

| Nineveh

| Neo-Assyrian Empire

| 612 BC

| coalition of Babylonians, Scythians and Medes

| Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BCE by a coalition of Babylonians, Scythians and Medes, an ancient Iranian people. It is believed that during the burning of the palace, a great fire must have ravaged the library, causing the clay cuneiform tablets to become partially baked. This potentially destructive event helped preserve the tablets. As well as texts on clay tablets, some of the texts may have been inscribed onto wax boards which, because of their organic nature, have been lost.

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| Xianyang Palace and State Archives

| Xianyang

| Qin China

| 206 BC

| Xiang Yu

| Xiang Yu, rebelling against emperor Qin Er Shi, led his troops into Xianyang in 206 BC. He ordered the destruction of the Xianyang Palace by fire.Sima Qian. Records of the Grand Historian, Biography of Emperor Gaozu.

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| Library of Alexandria

| Alexandria

| Hellenistic Egypt
Roman Egypt

| Disputed

| Disputed

| Disputed,{{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01303a.htm |title=The Alexandrian Library |website=New Advent |access-date=May 9, 2022}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/3517 |title=The Vanished Library |access-date=5 December 2014 |last1=Lewis |first1=Bernard |last2=Lloyd-Jones |first2=Hugh |website=The New York Review}} see destruction of the Library of Alexandria.

| Imperial library of Luoyang

| Luoyang

| Han China

| 189 AD

| Dong Zhuo

| Much of the city, including the imperial library, was purposefully burned when its population was relocated during an evacuation.{{cite web |url=https://about-history.com/the-yellow-turban-rebellion-21-years-of-struggle/ |title=The Yellow Turban Rebellion - 21 Years of Struggle |last=Chakra |first=Hayden |date=April 14, 2021 |website=About History |access-date=May 9, 2022}}{{cite book|last1=de Crespigny|first1=Rafe|title=Fire over Luoyang: A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23-220 AD|date=2017|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004324916|location=Leiden|pages=419}}{{rp|460–461}}

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| Library of Pantainos

| Athens

| Roman Greece

| 267

| Heruli

| It was destroyed in 267 AD during the Heroulian invasion and in the 5th century it was incorporated into a large peristyle building.

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| Hadrian's Library

| Athens

| Roman Greece

| 267

| Heruli

| The library was seriously damaged by the Herulian invasion of 267 and repaired by the prefect Herculius in AD 407–412.

| Library of Antioch

| Antioch

| Seleucid Empire
Roman Syria

| 364

| Emperor JovianDirk Rohmann, Christianity, Book-Burning and Censorship in Late Antiquity, (Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2016), 240.

| The library had been heavily stocked by the aid of the perpetrator's non-Christian predecessor, Emperor Julian (the Apostate).

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| Library of the Serapeum

| Alexandria

| Hellenistic Egypt
Roman Egypt

| 392

| Theophilus of Alexandria

| Following the conversion of the temple of Serapis into a church, the library was destroyed.John Edwin Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship From the End of the Sixth Century B.C. to the End of the Middle Ages, (Cambridge University Press, 2011), 113.

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| Theological Library of Caesarea Maritima

| Caesarea Maritima

| Ancient Palestine

| 639

| Capture of the city by the Saracens

| "The building had been destroyed in the Islamic conquest of Caesarea in 639/640 A.D."Bull, Robert J. "Caesarea Maritima: The Search for Herod's City." Biblical Archaeology Review, vol. 8, no. 3, 1982.{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Craig A. |title=“Longevity of Late Antique Autographs and First Copies: A Postscriptum,” in Scribes and Their Remains, ed. Craig A. Evans and Jeremiah J. Johnston, vol. 21, Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity |publisher=T&T Clark |year=2020}}{{Cite book |last=Vailhé |first=Siméon |title=“Caesarea Palaestinae,” in The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, ed. Charles G. Herbermann et al. |publisher=The Encyclopedia Press |year=1907–1913}}

| Library of al-Hakam II

| Córdoba

| Al-Andalus

| 976

| Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir & religious scholars

| All books consisting of "ancient science" were destroyed in a surge of ultra-orthodoxy.Ann Christy, Christians in Al-Andalus:711–1000, (Curzon Press, 2002), 142.Libraries, Claude Gilliot, Medieval Islamic Civilization: L-Z, Index, ed. Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach, (Routledge, 2006), 451.

| Library of Rayy

| Rayy

| Buyid Emirate

| 1029

| Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni

| Burned the library and all books deemed as heretical.{{cite journal |title=Moslem Libraries and Sectarian Propaganda |first=Ruth Stellhorn |last=Mackensen |journal=The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures |volume=51 |issue=2 |date=January 1935 |pages=93–94 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |doi=10.1086/370447 |jstor=528860 |s2cid=170296340 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/528860 |access-date=May 9, 2022|url-access=subscription }}

| Library at Sázava Monastery

| Sázava

| Holy Roman Empire

| {{Circa|1097}}

| Abbot Diethard

| After the removal of the Slavonic Benedictines from Sázava monastery, the new abbot destroyed all books written in Old Church Slavonic.{{cite book |last=Wolverton |first=Lisa |year=2001 |title=Hastening Toward Prague: Power and Society in the Medieval Czech Lands |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |page=134 |isbn=0-8122-3613-0}}

| Library of Banu Ammar (Dar al-'ilm)

| Tripoli

| Fatimid Caliphate

| 1109

| Crusaders

| Following Sharaf ad-Dawla ibn Abi al-Tayyib's surrender to Baldwin I of Jerusalem, Genoese mercenaries burned and looted part of the city. The library, Dar al-'ilm, was burned.Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Vol. II, (Cambridge University Press, 1999), 69.

| Library of Ghazna

| Ghazna

| Ghurid empire

| 1151

| 'Ala al-Din Husayn

| City was sacked and burned for seven days. Libraries and palaces built by the Ghaznavids were destroyed.C.E. Bosworth, The Later Ghaznavids, (Columbia University Press, 1977), 117.

| Library of Nishapur

| Nishapur

| Seljuk Empire

| 1154

| Oghuz Turks

| City partially destroyed, libraries sacked and burned.The Tomb of Omar Khayyâm, George Sarton, Isis, Vol. 29, No. 1 (July, 1938):16.

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| Nalanda

| Nalanda

| India

| 1193

| Bakhtiyar Khilji

|Nalanda University complex (the most renowned repository of Buddhist knowledge in the world at the time) was sacked by Turkic Muslim invaders under the perpetrator; this event is seen as a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India.Sen, Gertrude Emerson (1964) The Story of Early Indian Civilization. Orient Longmans

| Imperial Library of Constantinople

| Constantinople

| Byzantine Empire

| Disputed

| Disputed

| Disputed, see Imperial Library of Constantinople#The destruction of the library.

| Alamut Castle's library

| Alamut Castle

| Iran

| 1256

| Mongols

| Library destroyed after the capitulation of Alamut.Ibn Taymiyya, David Waines, The Islamic World, ed. Andrew Rippin, (Routledge, 2008), 382

| House of Wisdom

| Baghdad

| Iraq

| 1258

| Mongols

| Destroyed during the Battle of BaghdadGeorge Lane, Daily Life in the Mongol Empire, (Greenwood Press, 2006), 88.

| Libraries of Constantinople

| Constantinople

| Byzantine Empire

| 1453

| Ottoman Turks

| After the Fall of Constantinople, hundreds upon thousands of manuscripts were removed, sold, or destroyed from Constantinople's libraries.Robert S. Nelson, The Italian Appreciation and Appropriation of Illuminated Byzantine Manuscripts, Ca. 1200–1450, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 49 (1995): 209-210.

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|Madrassah Library

|Granada

|Crown of Castile

|1499

|Cardinal Cisneros

|The library was ransacked by troops of Cardinal Cisneros in late 1499, the books were taken to the Plaza Bib-Rambla, where most of them were burned.Mercedes Garcia-Arenal Rodriquez and Fernando Rodríguez Mediano, The Orient in Spain: Converted Muslims, the Forged Lead Books of Granada, and the Rise of Orientalism, transl. Consuelo Lopez-Morillas, (Brill, 2013), 41.

|Bibliotheca Corviniana

|Buda

|Hungary

|1526

|Ottoman Turks

|Library was destroyed by Ottomans in the Battle of Mohács.(DE)Edit Szegedi, Geschichtsbewusstsein und Gruppenidentität, (Bohlau Verlag, 2002), 223.

|Monastic libraries

|England

|England

|1530s

|Royal officials

|The monastic libraries were destroyed or dispersed following the dissolution of monasteries by Henry VIII.

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|Glasney College

|Penryn, Cornwall

|England

|1548

|Royal officials

|The smashing and looting of the Cornish colleges at Glasney and Crantock brought an end to the formal scholarship which had helped to sustain the Cornish language and the Cornish cultural identity.

| Records on Gozo

| Gozo

| Hospitaller Malta

| 1551

| Ottoman Turks

| Most paper records held on Gozo were lost or destroyed during an Ottoman raid in 1551.{{cite news |title=Notarial Archives discovery: Documents from Gozo dating to 1431 saved from the bin |url=http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2015-05-23/local-news/Documents-from-Gozo-dating-to-1431-saved-from-the-bin-6736135676 |work=The Malta Independent |date=23 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506001141/http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2015-05-23/local-news/Documents-from-Gozo-dating-to-1431-saved-from-the-bin-6736135676 |archive-date=6 May 2019}} The raid is said to have "led to the near total destruction of documentary evidence for life in medieval Gozo."{{cite book |last1=Abela |first1=Joan |editor1-last=Vella |editor1-first=Charlene |title=At Home in Art: Essays in Honour of Mario Buhagiar |date=2016 |publisher=Midsea Books |location=Malta |isbn=9789993275985 |pages=29–46 |url=https://www.academia.edu/40951394 |chapter=Unearthing Gozo's Lost Medieval Past}}

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|Maya codices of the Yucatán

|Maní, Yucatán

|Mexico and Guatemala

|1562-07-12

|Diego de Landa

|Bishop De Landa, a Franciscan friar and conquistador during the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, wrote: "We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction." Only three extant codices are widely considered unquestionably authentic.

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|Raglan Library

|Raglan Castle

|Wales

|1646

|Parliamentary Army

|The Earl of Worcester's library was burnt during the English Civil War by forces under the command of Thomas Fairfax

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|Załuski Library

|Warsaw

|Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth/German-occupied Poland
(General Government)

|1794/1944

|Imperial Russian Army/Nazi German troops

| After the Kościuszko Uprising (1794), Russian troops, acting on orders from Czarina Catherine II, seized the library's holdings and transported them to her personal collection at Saint Petersburg, where a year later it formed the cornerstone of the newly founded Imperial Public Library.{{Cite web |url=https://www.fyifrance.com/f102005c.htm |last=Witt |first=Maria |title=The Strange Life of One of the Greatest European Libraries of the Eighteenth Century |website=FYI France |date=September–October 2005 |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301040701/https://www.fyifrance.com/f102005c.htm |url-status=dead }} Parts of the collections were damaged or destroyed as they were mishandled while being removed from the library and transported to Russia, and many were stolen.{{Cite web |author = Lech Chmielewski |url = http://www.welcometo.home.pl/february_2003/happened.html |title = In the House under the Sign of the Kings |work = Welcome to Warsaw |access-date = 2008-02-17 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090203151022/http://www.welcometo.home.pl/february_2003/happened.html |archive-date = 2009-02-03 }} According to the historian Joachim Lelewel, the Zaluskis' books, "could be bought at Grodno by the basket". The collection was later dispersed among several Russian libraries. Some parts of the Zaluski collection came back to Poland on two separate dates in the nineteenth century: 1842 and 1863. Government of the re-established Second Polish Republic reclaimed in the 1920s some of the former Załuski Library holdings from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic following the Treaty of Riga. The original building was destroyed by the Germans during World War II. German soldiers also deliberately destroyed the collection (held in the Krasiński Library at the time - see below) during the planned destruction of Warsaw in October 1944, after collapse of the Warsaw Uprising.{{Cite web |author = Maria Witt |url = https://www.fyifrance.com/f102005c.htm |title = The Zaluski Collection in Warsaw |work = The Strange Life of One of the Greatest European Libraries of the Eighteenth Century |publisher = FYI France |date = September–October 2005 |access-date = 2008-02-17 |archive-date = 2021-03-01 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210301040701/https://www.fyifrance.com/f102005c.htm |url-status = dead }}{{Cite book|author=Rebecca Knuth|title=Burning books and leveling libraries: extremist violence and cultural destruction|year=2006|page=[https://archive.org/details/burningbooksleve00rebe/page/166 166]|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=0-275-99007-9|url=https://archive.org/details/burningbooksleve00rebe/page/166|url-access=registration}} Only 1800 manuscripts and 30,000 printed materials from the original library survived the war. After the war, the original building was rebuilt under the Polish People's Republic.{{Cite web|url = http://www.warszawa1939.pl/index.php?r1=danilowiczowska_14&r3=0 |title = Dom pod Królami |work = warszawa1939.pl |access-date = 2008-02-17|language=pl}}{{cite book|author=Rebecca Knuth|title=Burning Books and Leveling Libraries: extremist violence and cultural destruction|year=2006|page=[https://archive.org/details/burningbooksleve00rebe/page/166 166]|publisher=Praeger|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=0-275-99007-9|url=https://archive.org/details/burningbooksleve00rebe/page/166|url-access=registration}}

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|Library of Congress

|Washington, D.C.

|United States

|1814

|Troops of the British Army

|The library was destroyed during the War of 1812 when British forces set fire to the U.S. Capitol during the Burning of Washington.{{cite web|title=Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress|publisher=Library of Congress|url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/loc.html|date=2006-03-06|access-date=2008-01-14}} This attack was retaliation for the burning of the Canadian towns of York and Niagara by American troops in 1813.{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Stuart |title=The Library : An Illustrated History |date=2009 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-1-60239-706-4 |pages=190–191}} Soon after its destruction, the Library of Congress was reestablished, largely thanks to the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's personal library in 1815. A second fire on December 24, 1851, destroyed a large portion of the Library of Congress' collection again, however, resulting in the loss of about two-thirds of the Thomas Jefferson collection and an estimated 35,000 books in total.{{cite web |title=Thomas Jefferson's Library |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/thomas-jeffersons-library/overview.html |website=Library of Congress |date=11 April 2008 |access-date=10 March 2020}}

|Several libraries

|Mexico City and major Mexican cities

|Mexico

|1856–1867

|Liberal troops and anti-clericalists

|During and after the Mexican Reform War, under the liberal governments of Benito Juárez and Ignacio Comonfort, many convent libraries and Church owned school libraries were sacked or destroyed by Liberal troops and looters, most notably included San Francisco Convent Library, which had over 16,000 books (great majority of them were unique collections of Spanish colonial era productions), the library was totally destroyed. Other important libraries included San Agustín Convent Library, was looted and burned. The Carmen de San Ángel Convent and its library were also totally destroyed (with a few books recovered), other affected convent libraries to different degrees were those of Santo Domingo, Las Capuchinas, Santa Clara, La Merced and the Church owned school Colegio de San Juan de Letrán, among others, all of them in Mexico City. Similar events happened all over Mexico, especially in major cities. Besides books, other items such as altarpieces, unique collections of colonial period Baroque paintings, crosses, sculptures, gold and silver chalices (often robbed and melted) were also lost. Total estimates place the total of lost books and manuscripts at 100,000 by 1884.{{cite book |last=Tovar de Teresa|first=Guillermo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tu1eAAAAMAAJ |year=1990 |title=La ciudad de los palacios: crónica de un patrimonio perdido, Volume 1|publisher=Editorial Vuelta |pages=14|isbn=9789686258172}}{{cite book |last=Báez|first=Guillermo|year=2013 |title=Historia Universal de la Destrucción de Libros|publisher=OCEANO|pages=220–222}}

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|University of Alabama

|Tuscaloosa, Alabama

|United States

|1865-05-04

|Troops of the Union Army

|During the American Civil War, Union troops destroyed most buildings on the University of Alabama campus, including its library of approximately 7,000 volumes.{{cite book |last=Wolfe |first=Suzanne Rau |year=1983 |title=The University of Alabama: A Pictorial History |publisher=The University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |pages=57–59}}

|Mosque-Library

|Turnovo, Bulgaria

|Ottoman Empire

|1877

|Christian Bulgarians

|Turkish books in a library were destroyed when the mosque was burned.R.J. Crampton, A Concise History of Bulgaria, (Cambridge University Press, 2006), 111.

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|Royal library of the Kings of Burma

|Mandalay Palace

|Burma

|1885–1887

|Troops of the British Army

|The British looted the palace at the end of the 3rd Anglo-Burmese War (some of the artefacts which were taken away are still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London){{cite book|url=http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=sea;cc=sea;sid=f7c73dc350626ca80c0cf1c8ff80315f;rgn=full%20text;idno=sea282;view=image;seq=360|title=Wanderings in Burma|first=George W.|last=Bird|year=1897|publisher=F. J. Bright & Son|location=London|page=254}} and burned down the royal library.

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|Hanlin Academy Library

|Hanlin Academy

|China

|1900-06-23/4

|Disputed. Possibly the Kansu Braves besieging the west of the Legation Quarter, or possibly by the international defending forces.

|During the Siege of the International Legations in Beijing at the height of the Boxer Rebellion, the unofficial national library of China at the Hanlin Academy, which was adjacent to the British Legation, was set on fire (by whom and whether deliberately or accidentally is still disputed) and almost entirely destroyed. Many of the books and scrolls that survived the flames were subsequently looted by forces of the victorious foreign powers.

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| Library of the Catholic University of Leuven

| Leuven

| Belgium

| 1914-08-25/1940-05

| German Occupation Troops

| The Germans set the library on fire as part of the burning of the entire city in an attempt to use terror to quell Belgian resistance to occupation.{{cite book |title=Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War |last=Kramer|first=Alan |year=2008 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |isbn=978-1-84614-013-6 }}{{cite magazine|last=Gibson |first=Craig |year=2008 |title=The culture of destruction in the First World War |magazine=Times Literary Supplement |issue=January 30, 2008 |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3277792.ece |access-date=2008-02-18}} The library caught again fire during the World War II German invasion of Louvain, Belgium.University of Louvain, International Dictionary of University Histories, ed. Carol J. Summerfield, Mary Elizabeth Devine, Anthony Levi, (Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998), 531.

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| Public Records Office of Ireland

| Dublin

| Ireland

| 1922

| Disputed. Poss. deliberately by Anti-Treaty IRA or accidental ignition of their stored explosives due to shelling by Provisional Government forces.{{cite book|last=Hill|first=J. R.|title=A New History of Ireland Volume VII: Ireland 1921–84|year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-161559-7|pages=Chapter II p2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BboTH3_HGMMC&q=%22Eventually+the+pro-treaty+army%27s+shelling+culminated+in+an+enormous+explosion+in+the+Public+Record+Office%22&pg=PT183}}

| The Four Courts was occupied by the Anti-Treaty IRA at the start of the Irish Civil War. The building was bombarded by the Provisional Government forces under Michael Collins.{{cite book |title=The Limits of Liberty – Episode 1 |last=Ferriter|first=Diarmaid |year=2010 |publisher=RTÉ }}

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|Several religious libraries

|Madrid

|Republican Spain

|1931

|Anarchists and anti-clericalists

|In 1931, several groups of radical leftists and anarchists, with the complicit inaction of the Republican government, burned down several convents in Madrid. Most included important libraries. Among them, the Colegio de la Inmaculada y San Pedro Claver and the Instituto Católico de Artes e Industrias with a library of 20 000 volumes; the Casa Profesa with a library of 80 000 volumes, considered the second best in Spain at the time, after the National Library; and the Instituto Católico de Artes e Industrias, with 20 000 volumes, including the archives of the paleographer García Villada, and 100 000 popular songs compiled by P. Antonio Martínez. Everything was lost.

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|Oriental Library (also known as Dongfang Tushuguan)

|Zhabei, Shanghai

|China

|1932-02-01

|Imperial Japanese Army

|During the January 28 incident in the Second Sino-Japanese War Japanese forces bombed The Commercial Press and the attached Oriental Library, setting it alight and destroying most of its collection of more than 500,000 volumes.{{cite journal |first=Michael R. |last=Godley |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2158575 |title=Review of The Life and Times of Zhang Yuanji, 1867-1959 by Manying Ip |journal=Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs |date=1988 |pages=415–418 |doi=10.2307/2158575 |jstor=2158575 |access-date=May 9, 2022|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i2QZAAAAMAAJ |title=A Description of the Oriental Library Before and After the Destruction by Japanese on February 1, 1932 |publisher=Mercury Press |date=1932 |page=5 |access-date=May 9, 2022}}{{cite web |first=Ke |last=Jiayun |url=https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/1803151678/ |title=Bombed-out library with revolutionary past |date=March 15, 2018 |website=Shanghai Daily |access-date=May 9, 2022}}

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|Institut für Sexualwissenschaft

|Berlin

|Nazi Germany

|1933-05-??

|Members of the Deutsche Studentenschaft

|On 6 May 1933, the Deutsche Studentenschaft made an organised attack on the Institute of Sex Research. A few days later, the institute's library and archives were publicly hauled out and burned in the streets of the Opernplatz.

|University of Oviedo

|Oviedo

|Second Spanish Republic

|1934-10-13

|Revolutionaries or bombs thrown by government airplanes{{cite journal |last1=Ruiz |first1=David |title=Los revolucionarios volaron la Catedral, pero no la Universidad |journal=Atlántica XXII |date=13 February 2016 |issue=41 |url=https://www.atlanticaxxii.org/los-revolucionarios-volaron-la-catedral-pero-no-la-universidad/ |access-date=9 October 2024 |language=es |quote=a día de hoy ya no hay plena constancia de que el trágico episodio tenga la firma de los revolucionarios que combatieron en la capital.|trans-title=The revolutionaries blew up the Cathedral, but not the University}}

|During the Asturian miners' strike of 1934, armed revolutionaries took Oviedo and were repressed by the Spanish Army on orders by General Francisco Franco.

| National University of Tsing Hua, University Nan-k'ai, Institute of Technology of He-pei, Medical College of He-pei, Agricultural College of He-pei, University Ta Hsia, University Kuang Hua, National University of Hunan

|

| China

| 1937–1945

| World War II Japanese Troops

| During World War II, Japanese military forces destroyed or partly destroyed numerous Chinese libraries, including libraries at the National University of Tsing Hua, Peking (lost 200,000 of 350,000 books), the University Nan-k'ai, T'ien-chin (totally destroyed, 224,000 books lost), Institute of Technology of He-pei, T'ien-chin (completely destroyed), Medical College of He-pei, Pao-ting (completely destroyed), Agricultural College of He-pei, Pao-ting (completely destroyed), University Ta Hsia, Shanghai (completely destroyed), University Kuang Hua, Shanghai (completely destroyed), National University of Hunan (completely destroyed).

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|National Library of Serbia

|Belgrade

|Yugoslavia

|1941-04-06

|Nazi German Luftwaffe

|Destroyed during the World War II bombing of Belgrade, on the order of Adolf Hitler himself.{{cite news | author = Dejan Ristić | title = Hitler je naredio: prvo uništiti Narodnu biblioteku| trans-title = Hitler ordered: first destroy the National Library | newspaper = Politika | language = sr | date = 3 April 2016 | url = http://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/352400/Hitler-je-naredio-prvo-unistiti-Narodnu-biblioteku}} Around 500.000 volumes and all collections of the library were destroyed in one of the largest book bonfires in European history.{{cite news | author = Jelena Čalija, Dejan Ristić | title = Двоструко страдање Народне библиотеке Србије | trans-title = Double suffering of the National Library of Serbia | newspaper = Politika | page = 8 | language = sr | date = 15 March 2020}}

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|SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library

|Sofia

|Bulgaria

|1943–1944

|Allied bombing Allied air forces

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|Krasiński Library (housing special collections of the National Library of Poland, including the Załuski Library collection, as well as those of the Warsaw University Library and the Warsaw Public Library)

|Warsaw

|German-occupied Poland
(General Government)

|1944

|Nazi German troops

|The library was deliberately set ablaze by Nazi German troops in the aftermath of the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The burning of this library was part of the general planned destruction of Warsaw.

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|Library of the Zamoyski Family Entail

|Warsaw

|German-occupied Poland
(General Government)

|1944

|Nazi German troops

|The library (which housed the collections of the former Zamoyski Academy) was deliberately set ablaze by the Nazi German troops in the aftermath of the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The burning of this library was part of the general planned destruction of Warsaw. Depending on source, 1800 to 3000 items constituting only 1.5% to 3% of the original collection (albeit the most valuable part) survived, partially due to the fact that the troops burning the library did not notice the entrance to the basement at the rear side of the building.{{Cite book|last = Majewski |first = Piotr |title = Wojna i kultura. Instytucje kultury polskiej w okupacyjnych realiach Generalnego Gubernatorstwa 1939–1945 |publisher=Wydawnictwo TRI |location=Warsaw|date=2005|pages =271|isbn = 83-7436-003-8}}

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|Central Archives of Historical Records

|Warsaw

|German-occupied Poland
(General Government)

|1944

|Nazi German troops

|In the aftermath of the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, the archives (one of the pair of archives housing historical documents of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with the other located in Vilnius) were not only deliberately set ablaze, but the Nazi German troops also entered each of the nine accessible fire-proof vaults in the underground shelter and meticulously burned one after another (entrance to the 10th was blocked by rubble, thus saving its contents). Part of the general planned destruction of Warsaw.{{cite journal |last1=Strebel |first1=Adam |title=Archives of Warsaw following the war|journal=Przegląd Historyczny |date=1948|volume=37|pages=357–373|url= https://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media/files/Przeglad_Historyczny/Przeglad_Historyczny-r1948-t37/Przeglad_Historyczny-r1948-t37-s357-373/Przeglad_Historyczny-r1948-t37-s357-373.pdf|access-date=22 July 2021}}

|Multiple private libraries all over Tokyo.

|Tokyo

|Empire of Japan

|1945

|US army air force

|US firebombing of Tokyo in May 1945 destroyed many private Japanese libraries such as the 40,000 volumes in Hasegawa Nyozekan's house.{{cite book |last= Hanneman|first= Mary L. |date=2007 |title=Hasegawa Nyozekan and Liberalism in Modern Japan |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=p_V5DwAAQBAJ&dq=tokyo+library+burned+firebombing&pg=PA24 |publisher=Global Oriental |page=24 |isbn=978-9004213364}} The firebombing of Tokyo destroyed the majority of personal libraries there with many publications from before the war being permanently lost.{{cite book |last=Solt |first=John |date= 2020|title=Shredding the Tapestry of Meaning: The Poetry and Poetics of Kitasono Katue (1902–1978) |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5KPaDwAAQBAJ&dq=libraries+tokyo+firebombing&pg=PA3|edition=reprint |publisher= BRILL|page=3 |isbn=978-1684173266}} Firebombing damaged Keio university in Tokyo.{{cite book |last= Weiss|first= Andrew |date=2014 |title=Using Massive Digital Libraries: A LITA Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgPWDwAAQBAJ&dq=libraries+tokyo+firebombing&pg=PT125 |edition=reprint |publisher=American Library Association |isbn=978-0838919743}}

|Warsaw Public Library

|Warsaw

|German-occupied Poland
(General Government)

|1945

|Nazi German troops

|Before the outbreak of World War II the library already contained 500,000 book volumes. In January 1945 it was set ablaze by retreating Nazi German soldiers. As a result, 300,000 books were destroyed, another 100,000 were looted.{{Cite web |url=http://www.koszykowa.pl/bpw/en/o-nas.html |title=Biblioteka na Koszykowej: O nas |access-date=July 9, 2021 |archive-date=August 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815083634/http://www.koszykowa.pl/bpw/en/o-nas.html |url-status=dead }}

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|Raczyński Library

|Poznań

|German-occupied Poland
(Reichsgau Wartheland)

|1945

|Nazi German troops

|The retreating Nazi German troops planted explosives in the building and triggered detonation, demolishing the entire structure and burning 90% of the collection, while the remaining 10% were looted in advance.

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| Lebanese National Library

| Beirut

| Lebanon

| 1975

| Lebanese Civil War

| The 1975 war fighting began in Beirut's downtown where the National Library was located. During the war years, the library suffered significant damage. According to some sources, 1200 of most precious manuscripts disappeared, and no memory is left of the Library's organization and operational procedures of that time.

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|National Library of Cambodia

|Phnom Penh

|Cambodia

|1976–1979

|The Khmer Rouge

|Burnt most of the books and all bibliographical records. Only 20% of materials survived.

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|Jaffna Public Library

|Jaffna

|Sri Lanka

|1981-05-??

|Plainclothes police officers and others

|In May 1981, a mob composed of thugs and plainclothes police officers went on a rampage in minority Tamil-dominated northern Jaffna, and burned down the Jaffna Public Library. At least 95,000 volumes – the second largest library collection in South Asia – were destroyed.{{cite conference |first=Rebecca |last=Knuth |publisher=IFLA |date=2006-06-27 |url=http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla72/papers/119-Knuth-en.pdf |title=Destroying a Symbol: Checkered History of Sri Lanka's Jaffna Public Library |access-date=2008-08-30}}

| Sikh Reference Library

| Punjab

| India

| 1984-06-07

| Indian Army

| Prior to its destruction by Indian troops, the library hosted a vast collection of an estimated 20,000 literary works, including 11,107 books, 2,500 manuscripts, newspaper archives, historical letters, documents/files, and others mostly on Sikhism and in the Punjabi language but also on other topics and in other languages.{{Cite news |last=Brar |first=Kamaldeep Singh |date=20 June 2019 |title=Explained: The mystery of missing articles of Sikh Reference Library |work=The Indian Express |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/the-mystery-of-missing-articles-of-sikh-reference-library-5789595/ |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225164840/https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/the-mystery-of-missing-articles-of-sikh-reference-library-5789595/ |archive-date=25 December 2020}}Kaur, Jaskaran; Crossette, Barbara (2006).|http://ensaaf-org.jklaw.net/publications/reports/20years/20years-2nd.pdf Its destruction could have been a desperate act on failure to locate letters or documents that could have implicated the then Indian government and its leader Indira Gandhi.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000612/main7.htm|title=The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Main News}}The Smoking Gun Recovered, United Sikhs documentary"|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6AFP1NiF-U

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| Central University Library of Bucharest

| Bucharest

| Romania

| 1989-12-2?

| Romanian Land Forces

| Burnt down during the Romanian Revolution.{{cite web |url=http://www.bcub.ro/home/istoric |title=1895 – 1948 Fundaţia Universitară "Carol I" |website=Istoric |language=Romanian |access-date=May 9, 2022}}{{cite web |url=http://www.evz.ro/detalii/stiri/legea-recunostintei-made-in-romania-agentii-represiunii-ceausiste-au-ajuns-luptatori-remarca.html |title=Legea recunoştinţei, made in Romania:agenţii represiunii ceauşiste au ajuns luptători remarcaţi |date=June 3, 2010 |language=Romanian |website=Evenimentul Zilei |access-date=May 9, 2022}}

| Oriental Institute in Sarajevo

| Sarajevo

| Bosnia and Herzegovina

| 1992-05-17

| Bosnian Serb Army

| Destroyed by the shellfire during the Siege of Sarajevo.{{cite web |url=http://bmip.info/articles/articles.html |title=Related Articles |website=The Bosnian Manuscript Ingathering Project |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808082740/http://bmip.info/articles/articles.html |archive-date=August 8, 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/bosnia.htm |title=Erasing the Past: The Destruction of Libraries and Archives in Bosnia-Herzegovina |last=Riedlmayer |first=Andras |date=July 1995 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118204551/http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/bosnia.htm |archive-date=January 18, 2012}}{{cite journal |title=Crimes of war, crimes of peace: destruction of libraries during and after the Balkan wars of the 1990s |last=Riedlmayer |first=Andras J |journal=Library Trends |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |volume=56 |issue=1 |date=2007 |pages=107–132 |doi=10.1353/lib.2007.0057|hdl=2142/3784 |s2cid=38806101 |hdl-access=free }}

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|National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina

|Sarajevo

| Bosnia and Herzegovina

| 1992-08-25

|Bosnian Serb Army

| The library was completely destroyed during the Siege of Sarajevo.

|Abkhazian Research Institute of History, Language and Literature & National Library of Abkhazia

|Sukhumi

|Abkhazia

|1992-10-??

|Georgian Armed Forces

|Destroyed during the War in Abkhazia.{{cite web |url=http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=161411&apc_state=henicrs2002 |title=Homepage |website=Institute for War & Peace Reporting |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922154801/http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=161411&apc_state=henicrs2002 |archive-date=September 22, 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lcNIQ6fhcU |title=Abkhazia's archive: fire of war, ashes of history |date=November 30, 2008 |website=YouTube |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729143838/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lcNIQ6fhcU |archive-date=July 29, 2013}}

|City library

|Linköping

|Sweden

|1996-09-20

|Lack of evidence for trial

|After a year of repeated, minor arson attempts against an information bureau for immigrants located in the building, the library is eventually burnt down to the ground.

| Pol-i-Khomri Public Library

| Pol-i-Khomri

| Afghanistan

| 1998

| Taliban militia

| It held 55,000 books and old manuscripts.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DlMSrtOGLIC |title=Censorship of historical thought: a world guide, 1945–2000 |first=Antoon |last=de Baets |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |date=2002 |isbn=9780313311932 |access-date=May 9, 2022}}

| Iraq National Library and Archive, Al-Awqaf Library, Central Library of the University of Baghdad, Library of Bayt al-Hikma, Central Library of the University of Mosul and other libraries

| Baghdad

| Iraq

| 2003-04-??

| Unknown members of the Bagdad population

| Several libraries looted, set on fire, damaged and destroyed in various degrees during the 2003 Iraq War.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2948021.stm |title=Prized Iraqi annals 'lost in blaze' |date=April 14, 2003 |website=BBC |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827064919/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2948021.stm |archive-date=August 27, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/iraqdiary/cilippics.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20100427132359/http://www.bl.uk/iraqdiary/cilippics.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 April 2010|title=Photos by Dr Saad Eskander of damage to Iraq National Library and Archive|access-date=5 December 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/mela/LibraryPix/LibraryPix.htm|title=Pictures of Damaged Libraries in Iraq|access-date=5 December 2014|archive-date=3 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903053840/http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/mela/LibraryPix/LibraryPix.htm|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/mela/melairaq.html|title=MELA Committee on Iraqi Libraries|access-date=5 December 2014|archive-date=9 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109112910/http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/mela/melairaq.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://archive.ifla.org/VI/4/admin/iraq0205.htm|title=ICBS -Assessment of damage to Libraries and Archives in Iraq|access-date=5 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814150906/http://archive.ifla.org/VI/4/admin/iraq0205.htm|archive-date=14 August 2015|url-status=dead}}

| The People's Library Occupy Wall Street

| Zuccotti Park Lower Manhattan New York City

| United States

| 2011

| New York City Department of Sanitation

| Over 5,000 books cataloged in LibraryThing were seized.{{cite journal |last1=Norton |first1=Daniel |last2=Henk |first2=Mandy |last3=Fagin |first3=Betsy |last4=Taylor |first4=Jaime |last5=Loeb |first5=Zachary |title=OCCUPY WALL STREET LIBRARIANS SPEAK OUT |journal=Progressive Librarian |date=Spring 2012 |volume=38/39 |issue=38/39 |pages=3–16 |url=http://www.progressivelibrariansguild.org/PL/PL38_39/003.pdf |access-date=21 October 2018}}

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| Egyptian Scientific Institute

| Cairo

| Egypt

| 2011-12-??

|Aftermath of street clashes during the Egyptian revolution

| A first estimate says that only 30,000 volumes have been saved of a total of 200,000.{{cite news |url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/incendio/durante/disturbios/Cairo/destruye/original/Descripcion/Egipto/encargada/Napoleon/elpepucul/20111218elpepucul_1/Tes |title=Un incendio durante los disturbios de El Cairo destruye el original de la 'Descripción de Egipto' encargada por Napoleón |date=December 18, 2011 |website=El Pais |language=Spanish |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126031501/https://elpais.com/cultura/2011/12/18/actualidad/1324162801_850215.html |archive-date=January 26, 2021}}

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| Ahmed Baba Institute (Timbuktu library)

| Timbuktu

| Mali

| 2013-01-28

| Islamist militias

| Before the library was burned down, it contained over 20,000 manuscripts with only a fraction of them having been scanned as of January 2013. Before and during the occupation, more than 300,000 Timbuktu Manuscripts from the Institute and from private libraries were saved and moved to more secure locations.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/28/mali-timbuktu-library-ancient-manuscripts |title=Timbuktu mayor: Mali rebels torched library of historic manuscripts |work=The Guardian |date=January 28, 2013 |access-date=January 28, 2013 |author=Harding, Luke}}{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/28/timbuktu-library-centuries-african-history |title=Timbuktu library is treasure house of centuries of Malian history |work=The Guardian |date=January 28, 2013 |access-date=January 28, 2013 |author=Walker, Peter}}{{cite web |url=http://www.debka.com/newsupdate/3563/ |title=Fleeing Islamists burn priceless Timbuktu library |date=January 28, 2013 |website=Debkaflile |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129061700/http://debka.com/newsupdate/3563/ |archive-date=January 29, 2013}}

| Ratanda Public Library

| Lesedi Local Municipality

| South Africa

| 2013-03-12

| Public riots

| 1,807 library books, technological infrastructure including seven patron workstations, a photocopy machine and a large screen television.{{cite journal |last1=Lor |first1=Pieter |title=Burning Libraries for the People: Questions and Challenges for the Library Profession in South Africa |journal=Libri |date=2013 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=359–372 |doi=10.1515/libri-2013-0028 |s2cid=31109022 |url=https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/37230/Lor_Burning_2013.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y |access-date=22 July 2020}}

| Libraries of Fisheries and Oceans Canada

|

| Canada

| 2013

| Government of Canada headed by prime minister Stephen Harper

| Digitization effort to reduce the nine original libraries to seven and save $C443,000 annual cost.{{cite news |website=The Tyee |url=https://thetyee.ca/News/2013/12/30/Harper-Library-Closures/ |title=Secret Memo Casts Doubt on Feds' Claims for Science Library Closures: Goal stated is 'culling' research, not preserving and sharing through digitization |date=30 December 2013 |first=Andrew |last=Nikiforuk |access-date=May 9, 2022}} Only 5–6% of the material was digitized, and scientific records and research created at a taxpayer cost of tens of millions of dollars were dumped, burned, and given away.{{cite news|title=Irreplaceable research lost from purged federal libraries: BC Green Party MLA Andrew Weaver says government didn't digitize entire libraries as promised|date=6 January 2014|url=http://www.news1130.com/2014/01/06/irreplaceable-research-lost-from-purged-federal-libraries/|website=News1130}} Particularly noted are baseline data important to ecological research, and data from 19th century exploration.

| Saeh Library

| Tripoli

| Lebanon

| 2014-01-03

| Unknown

| The Christian library was burned down, it contained over 80,000 manuscripts and books.{{cite news|url=http://stateofmind13.com/2014/01/04/lebanon-loses-78000-books-to-terrorism-tripolis-infamous-al-saeh-library-burned/|title=Lebanon Loses 78000 Books To Terrorism: Tripoli's "Al Sa'eh" Library Burned|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106044230/http://stateofmind13.com/2014/01/04/lebanon-loses-78000-books-to-terrorism-tripolis-infamous-al-saeh-library-burned/|archive-date=2014-01-06|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/112570-tripoli-figures-condemn-torching-famed-library-as-father-sarrouj-forgives-attackers|title=Tripoli Figures Condemn Torching Famed Library as Father Sarrouj 'Forgives Attackers'|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107034552/http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/112570-tripoli-figures-condemn-torching-famed-library-as-father-sarrouj-forgives-attackers|archive-date=2014-01-07|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://blogbaladi.com/20-pictures-of-al-saeh-library-in-tripoli-before-it-got-torched/|title=20 Pictures Of Al Sa'eh Library in Tripoli Before It Got Torched|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106044206/http://blogbaladi.com/20-pictures-of-al-saeh-library-in-tripoli-before-it-got-torched/|archive-date=2014-01-06|url-status=live}}

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| National Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina (partially)

| Sarajevo

| Bosnia and Herzegovina

| 2014-02-07

| Seven Bosnian rioters suspected of having started the fire; two (Salem Hatibović and Nihad Trnka){{cite news|title=Custody of the Suspects Hatibović and Trnka terminated and prohibiting measures ordered|url=http://www.sudbih.gov.ba/?id=3190&jezik=e|access-date=13 December 2014|publisher=Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina|date=7 April 2014}} were arrested.{{cite news|title=Sedmorica osumnjičena za paljenje Predsjedništva i Arhiva BiH|url=http://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/svijet/320226/Sedmorica-osumnjicena-za-paljenje-Predsjednistva-i-Arhiva-BiH.html|access-date=13 December 2014|publisher=tportal.hr|date=9 March 2014|language=hr}}

On 4 April 2014, Salem Hatibović and Nihad Trnka were released (although still under suspicion of terrorism), on conditions that they don't leave their places of residence and abstain from having any contact with each other. Both were also mandated to report to the police once every week.

| During the 2014 unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina large amounts of historical documents were destroyed when sections of the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, housed in the presidential building, were set on fire. Among the lost archival material were documents and gifts from the Ottoman period, original documents from the 1878–1918 Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as documentations of the interwar period, the 1941–1945 rule of the Independent State of Croatia, papers from the following years, and about 15,000 files from the 1996–2003 Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{cite news|title=Ogromna šteta, dio dokumentacije nepovratno uništen|url=http://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/svijet/315554/Ogromna-steta-dio-dokumentacije-nepovratno-unisten.html|access-date=19 February 2014|newspaper=tportal.hr|date=13 February 2014}}{{cite news|title=Nepovratno uništen deo Arhiva BiH|url=http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2014&mm=02&dd=13&nav_category=167&nav_id=811808|access-date=19 February 2014|newspaper=B92|date=13 February 2014}}

In the repositories that were burnt, about 60 percent of the material was lost, according to estimates by Šaban Zahirović, the head of the Archives.{{cite news|title=Direktor Arhiva BiH tvrdi: Izgorjelo je 60 posto depoa |url=http://www.oslobodjenje.ba/vijesti/bih/direktor-arhiva-bih-tvrdi-izgorjelo-je-60-posto-depoa |access-date=17 February 2014 |newspaper=Oslobođenje |date=13 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223013526/http://www.oslobodjenje.ba/vijesti/bih/direktor-arhiva-bih-tvrdi-izgorjelo-je-60-posto-depoa |archive-date=23 February 2014 }}

| Mosul University libraries
and private libraries

| Mosul

| Iraq

| 2014-12-??

| Ongoing ISIL book burning

| Book burning.{{cite news|title="داعش" يحرق آلاف الكتب في الموصل والأنبار|url=http://www.elaph.com/Web/Culture/2015/2/985403.html|access-date=22 February 2015|newspaper=elaph.com|date=23 February 2015}}

| Libraries in Al Anbar Governorate

| Al Anbar Governorate

| Iraq

| 2014-12-??

| Ongoing ISIL book burning

| Book burning.

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| Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (INION) (partially?)

| Moscow

| Russia

| 2015-01-29

| Unknown.

| Fire spread to 2000 m2 in third Floor. The roof caved in. Additional water damage. Ambient temperature too high for self-freezing of damaged Works. The library contains 14 million books, including rare texts in ancient Slavic languages, documents from the League of Nations, UNESCO, and parliamentary reports from countries including the US dating back as far as 1789.{{cite news|title=A Moscow library containing rare UN documents, ancient Slavic texts, and 14 million books is on fire|url=http://qz.com/336926/a-moscow-library-containing-rare-un-documents-ancient-slavic-texts-and-14-million-books-is-on-fire/|access-date=31 January 2015|newspaper=QUARTZ|date=30 January 2015}}

| Mosul public library
(Central Public Library in Ninawa)

| Mosul

| Iraq

| 2015-02-??

| ISIL book burning

| 8,000 rare old books and manuscripts. Manuscripts from the 18th century, Syriac books printed in Iraq's first printing house in the 19th century, books from the Ottoman era, Iraqi newspapers from the early 20th century.{{cite news|title=ISIS Burns 8000 Rare Books and Manuscripts in Mosul|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/isis-burns-8000-rare-books-030900856.html|access-date=25 February 2015|newspaper=Yahoo Finance (The Fiscal Times)|date=23 February 2015}}

| Howard College Law Library, University of KwaZulu-Natal

| Durban

| South Africa

| 2016-09-06

| FeesMustFall protestors

| Law Library, including early Roman-Dutch law texts, burnt by protesters during confrontations with the police.{{cite news|last1=Withnall|first1=Adam|title='Nazi-style' book burning roundly condemned - but protesters say incident masks a bigger problem|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ukzn-south-africa-university-protests-nazistyle-library-book-burning-rape-brutality-a7230296.html|access-date=3 May 2021|work=The Independent|date=7 September 2016|language=en}}

Natural disasters

class="wikitable sortable"
Image

! Name of the library

! City

! Country

! Date of destruction

! style="width:33%;"|Causes and/or account of destruction

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| Royal Library of Portugal, Ribeira Palace

| Lisbon

| Portugal

| 1755-11-01

| Great Lisbon earthquake

| Imperial University Library in Tokyo, Max Müller Library, Nishimura Library, Hoshino Library

|

| Japan

| 1923-09-01

| An earthquake and the following fires.{{cite web |url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/publications-and-communication-materials/publications/full-list/lost-memory-libraries-and-archives-destroyed-in-the-twentieth-century/ |title=Lost memory: libraries and archives destroyed in the twentieth century |last1=Hoeven |first1=Hans van der |last2=Albada |first2=Jan van |date=1996 |website=United Nations |access-date=May 9, 2022}} In September 1923 Tokyo Imperial University library lost 700,000 volumes to the Great Kanto earthquake setting off fires.{{cite book |editor-last=Raven |editor-first=J. |date= 2004|title= Lost Libraries: The Destruction of Great Book Collections Since Antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qyt-DAAAQBAJ&dq=libraries+tokyo+burned&pg=PA7 |edition=illustrated|publisher= Springer|page=7 |isbn=0230524257}}{{cite book |last=Mack |first=Edward |date= 2010|title= Manufacturing Modern Japanese Literature: Publishing, Prizes, and the Ascription of Literary Value|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WnDI6s9surUC&dq=libraries+tokyo+burned&pg=PA71 |edition=illustrated|publisher=Duke University Press |page=71 |isbn=978-0822391654}}{{cite book |last=Scott |first=Andrew C. |date= 2020|title= Fire: a Very Short Introduction|volume= 640 of Very Short Introductions Series|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8XnDwAAQBAJ&dq=tokyo+library+burned+firebombing&pg=PA16 |edition=illustrated|publisher= Oxford University Press|page=16 |isbn=978-0198830030}}

| National Library of Nicaragua Rubén Darío

|

| Nicaragua

| 1931, 1972

| It was damaged in the 1931 earthquake. Another earthquake in 1972 caused damage.{{Cite web |date=2019-07-14 |title=yoquepierdo: Preserving Memories from Nicaragua |url=https://www.laacollective.org/work/yoqueperdio-preserving-memories-from-nicaragua |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Los Angeles Archivists Collective |language=en-US}}{{Cite journal |last=Ndumu |first=Ana |last2=Mon |first2=Lorraine |date=2018 |title=An investigation of the experiences of Nicaraguan Costeño librarians |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0340035218764496 |journal=IFLA Journal |language=en |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=106–118 |doi=10.1177/0340035218764496 |issn=0340-0352|url-access=subscription }}

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| Several libraries, archives, and museums{{Cite web |title=The Economic Impact of the 26 December 2004 Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami in Thailand - OD Mekong Datahub |url=https://data.opendevelopmentmekong.net/library_record/the-economic-impact-of-the-26-december-2004-earthquake-and-indian-ocean-tsunami-in-thailand |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=data.opendevelopmentmekong.net |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Amarasiri |first=Upali |date=2005 |title=Tsunami Affected Libraries in Sri Lanka: Rebuilding Process and Challenges |url=https://www.ndl.go.jp/en/preservation/pdf/amarasiri.pdf |access-date=January 24, 2024}}

|

| Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Thailand, Sri Lanka

| 2004-12-26

| The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. See Library damage resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

Fire

class="wikitable sortable"
Image

!Name of the library

!City

!Country

!Date of destruction

!Account of destruction

100px

| Library of Celsus

| Ephesus

| Roman Empire

| 262

| A fire caused by the 262 Southwest Anatolia earthquake{{cite book |chapter=Longevity of Late Antique Autographs and First Copies: A Postcriptum |first=Craig A. |last=Evans |title=Scribes and Their Remains |editor-first1=Craig A. |editor-last1=Evans |editor-first2=Jeremiah J. |editor-last2=Johnston |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2020 |page=53}} or a Gothic invasion.

|University of Copenhagen Library

|Copenhagen

|Denmark

|October 1728

|Copenhagen Fire of 1728

|Cotton Library

|London, Ashburnham House

|United Kingdom

|1731-10-23

|

|Library of Congress

|Washington, D.C.

|United States

|1814-08-25

|

|Birmingham Central Library

|Birmingham

|United Kingdom

|1879-01-11

|A fire broke out behind a wooden partition serving as a temporary wall during building operations. The fire caused extensive damage, with only 1,000 volumes saved from a stock of 50,000.{{Citation | title =Notes on the history of Birmingham Public Libraries (1861–1961)| publisher = Birmingham | year =1962 }}

|University of Virginia Library

|Charlottesville, Virginia

|United States

|1895-10-27

|

|New York State Library

|Albany, New York

|United States

|1911-03-29

|

|National Library of Peru

|Lima

|Peru

|1943-05-10

|

|Jewish Theological Seminary of America library

|New York City

|United States

|1966-04-18

|Jewish Theological Seminary library fire

|Charles A. Halbert Public Library

|Basseterre

|Saint Kitts and Nevis

|1982{{cite web |url=http://www.moeskn.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=92 |title=Charles A. Halbert Public Library |website=Ministry of Education Saint Christopher and Nevis |access-date=May 9, 2022 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008001722/http://www.moeskn.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=92 |archive-date=October 8, 2011}}

|

|St Michael's House

|Crafers

|Australia

|1983

|St Michael's House was destroyed as a result of the Ash Wednesday bushfires. The entire 40,000 volume library was lost including works from the 16th century.{{cite web | last=Moore | first=Scott | title=Fire brought death to house of tranquility | website=Trove | date=1983-02-16 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/270604157 | access-date=2024-03-13}}

|Dalhousie University Law Library

|Halifax, Nova Scotia

|Canada

|1985-08-16

|A lightning strike caused a short circuit in the electrical system which started a fire that destroyed the top floor of the building which housed the library.{{cite web |url=http://www.library.dal.ca/duasc/buildings/Weldon.htm |title=The Buildings of Dalhousie University – Weldon Law Building – Building History |publisher=Library.dal.ca |date=1967-03-18 |access-date=2015-07-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107020416/http://www.library.dal.ca/duasc/buildings/Weldon.htm |archive-date=2016-01-07 }}

120x120px

|Los Angeles Central Library

|Los Angeles, California

|United States

|1986-04-29 & 1986-09-03

|At 10:52 a.m. on April 29, 1986, a fire alarm alerted staff and patrons of a fire in the library's main building. Over 350 firefighters responded to the blaze, which burned for about 7 hours. An estimated 400,000 books were destroyed and an additional 350,000 materials suffered significant amounts of smoke and water damaged. The fire was determined to have begun on the fifth tier of the northeast stack.{{cite web |title=April 29 Marks 30th Anniversary of 1986 Fire |url=https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/april-29-marks-30th-anniversary-1986-fire |website=Los Angeles Public Library |access-date=13 March 2020}}

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|Academy of Sciences Library

|Leningrad

|USSR

|1988-02-14

|The 1988 fire in the Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences) broke out on Sunday, February 14, 1988, in the newspaper section on the third floor of the library. According to the library's acting director Valeriy Leonov, the fire alarm sounded at 8:13 pm, when the library was closed for visitors. By the time the fire was extinguished the following afternoon, it had destroyed between 190,000 and 300,000{{cite web |date=Jun 1988 |title=Leningrad Library Fire |url=http://cool.conservation-us.org/byorg/abbey/an/an12/an12-4/an12-402.html |access-date=23 May 2014 |publisher=Abbey Newsletter |volume=12 |number=4}} books of the total 12 million housed. About 3.5 million volumes initially became damp due to firefighting foam.

|Norwich Library

|Norwich, England

|United Kingdom

|1994-08-01{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/1/newsid_2526000/2526839.stm |title=1994: Library fire wipes out historic records |website=BBC |date=August 1994 |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031003042951/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/1/newsid_2526000/2526839.stm |archive-date=October 3, 2003}}

|On August 1, 1994, Norwich Central Library caught fire due to an electrical fault. Over one hundred firefighters responded as the flames escalated and smoke became visible from twenty miles away. Over 100,000 books and thousands of historical documents were destroyed.{{cite news |title=Norwich Central Library fire 25 years on |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-norfolk-49194482/norwich-central-library-fire-25-years-on |access-date=14 March 2020}}

|Iraq National Library

|Baghdad

|Iraq

|2003-04-15

|

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|Duchess Anna Amalia Library

|Weimar

|Germany

|2004-09-02

|

|Glasgow School of Art, Rennie Mackintosh Library

|Glasgow, Scotland

|United Kingdom

|2014-05-24 & 2018-06-15

|On May 24, 2014, a fire began inside the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building at the Glasgow School of Art. The Mackintosh Library was lost in the blaze; however all students and staff were directed to safety and no injuries resulted.{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Peter |title=Glasgow School of Art fire: fire damages Charles Rennie Mackintosh building - as it happened |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/23/glasgow-school-art-fire-charles-rennie-mackintosh-live |website=The Guardian |date=23 May 2014 |access-date=13 March 2020}} The fire began after gases from an expanding foam canister being used in a student project were ignited by a sparking projector. At the time of the incident, the building's recently installed fire suppression system was not yet operational.{{cite web |last1=Brooks |first1=Libby |title=Glasgow School of Art fire caused by gases from foam canister, says report |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/nov/26/glasgow-school-of-art-fire-foam-canister-report |website=The Guardian |date=26 November 2014 |access-date=13 March 2020}} While the Mackintosh building was under renovation following the 2014 fire, a second fire broke out around 11:15 p.m. on June 15, 2018. Larger in scale than the previous fire, the damages that resulted destroyed all of the building's renovation progress, as well as part of the school that had been left untouched by the first fire.{{cite web |last1=Solly |first1=Meilan |title=Glasgow School of Art Will Be Rebuilt, But Construction Could Last Up to a Decade |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/glasgow-school-art-will-be-rebuilt-construction-could-last-decade-180970330/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=13 March 2020}}

|Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (INION)

|Moscow

|Russia

|2015-01-31

|

|Mzuzu University Library

|Mzuzu

|Malawi

|2015-12-18{{cite web |url = http://www.maravipost.com/national/malawi-news/society/10127-mzuni-library-completely-destroyed-by-fire.html |title = Mzuni library completely destroyed by fire |publisher = The Maravi Post |access-date = 19 December 2015 |date = 18 December 2015}}

|In the very early hours of December 18, 2015, the Mzuzu University library caught fire. Although the library's wooden structure and carpeting spread the flames rapidly, students, staff, and firefighters on the scene attempted to rescue materials by carrying them out of the building and away from the flames. But by 5:00 a.m. the library collapsed, resulting in the loss of 45,000 volumes. Then a sudden rainstorm heightened the damage by soaking materials that had been carried out of the burning building.{{cite web |last1=Dube |first1=Gift Alfred B. |last2=Kanyundo |first2=Allan J. |last3=Majawa |first3=Felix P. |title=COPING WITH THE FIRE DISASTER AT MZUZU UNIVERSITY: EXPERIENCES FROM LIBRARIANS AND STUDENTS |url=https://www.scecsal.org/publications/papers2018/009_dube_2018.pdf |website=Scecsal |access-date=14 March 2020}}

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| National Museum of Brazil

| Quinta da Boa Vista in Rio de Janeiro

| Brazil

| 2018-09-02

| Not yet investigated. See National Museum of Brazil fire. Museum library was also destroyed.

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|Jagger Library (partially)

|Cape Town

|South Africa

|2021-04-18

|Partially destroyed by the 2021 Table Mountain fire.{{Cite web |last=Persens |first=Lizell |url=https://ewn.co.za/2021/04/18/fire-wreaks-massive-destruction-on-uct |title=Fire wreaks destruction on UCT |access-date=2021-04-18|date=2021-04-18 |website=Eyewitness News |language=en}} However, the library's fire detection systems stopped the destruction of the entire collection.{{cite news|last=Tembo|first=Theolin|date=2021-04-18|title=Some of our valuable collections at Jagger Library have been lost in the fire, says UCT libraries head|work=Independent Online (South Africa)|url=https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/some-of-our-valuable-collections-at-jagger-library-have-been-lost-in-the-fire-says-uct-libraries-head-040f83a0-6c62-4452-be44-9780c27fc675|access-date=2021-04-18}}

See also

Further reading

  • [http://bmip.info/ The Bosnian Manuscript Ingathering Project] – A call for Bosnian manuscripts ingathering
  • Polastron, Lucien X. (2007) Libros en Llamas: historia de la interminable destrucción de bibliotecas. Libraria, {{ISBN|968-16-8398-6}}.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080918100012/http://www.librossobrelibros.com/libro_12.html]
  • Knuth, Rebecca. Libricide : the regime-sponsored destruction of books and libraries in the twentieth century. {{ISBN|0-275-98088-X}}
  • Polastron, Lucien X. Books on fire: the destruction of libraries throughout history. {{ISBN|978-1-59477-167-5}}
  • Civallero, Edgardo. [http://libr.org/isc/issues/ISC25/articles/WHEN%20MEMORY%20TURNS%20INTO%20ASHES.pdf When Memory Turns into Ashes... Memoricide During the XX Century] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927074136/http://libr.org/isc/issues/ISC25/articles/WHEN%20MEMORY%20TURNS%20INTO%20ASHES.pdf |date=2011-09-27 }}. [http://hdl.handle.net/10760/10088 DOI].
  • UNESCO. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120905105742/http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/administ/pdf/LOSTMEMO.PDF Lost Memory – Libraries and archives destroyed in the twentieth century]
  • [https://books.google.com/books?id=4s-Kb9kv36oC&q=Books+on+Fire+The+Destruction+of+Libraries+Throughout+History Books on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries Throughout History]. Lucien Xavier Polastron. Translated by John E Graham. Inner Traditions. {{ISBN|978-1-59477-167-5}}. {{ISBN|1-59477-167-7}}.
  • Ovenden, Richard Burning the Books. London: John Murray[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/31/burning-the-books-by-richard-ovenden-review-the-libraries-we-have-lost Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden review – the libraries we have lost ]; The Guardian; 31 August 2020; accessed 2020-09-02

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://bmip.info/ The Bosnian Manuscript Ingathering Project]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20120125225225/http://users.ox.ac.uk/~wolf0126/bombed.html The threat to world heritage in Iraq: heritage destroyed]

{{Books}}

{{Libraries and library science}}

{{Destroyed heritage}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Destroyed Libraries}}

Category:Book censorship

Category:History of books

Libraries

Category:Lists of libraries

*Destroyed