With the aim of cataloguing, preserving and disseminating the bibliographic heritage of Catalonia, in 1983 the Catalan Government created the Collective Catalogue of Catalonia’s Bibliographic Heritage (CCPBC).
Managed by the Biblioteca de Catalunya, the CCPBC is a cooperative cataloguing project open to all types of institutions that have bibliographic collections relating to heritage. It contains bibliographic descriptions of printed documents that range from the very beginnings of printing until the start of the 20th century, as well as manuscripts and other types of documentary heritage interest conserved in the libraries of Catalonia.
Some of the major libraries with bibliography of patrimonial interest are, in addition to the Biblioteca de Catalunya, the institutions such as the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona, the Abbey of Santa Maria de Poblet, the Ateneu Barcelonès, the Library of Montserrat, the Episcopal Library of Vic, Casa Asia, the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, the Josep Pla Foundtion, the Institute of Catalan Studies, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and the Archaeological Museum of Catalonia, among others.
The CCPBC has collaborated in the preparation of the bibliographic heritage of the Spanish State since 1992, and from 2007 has also formed part of the Collective Catalogue of Catalan Universities (CCUC).
The history of Catalan bibliography cannot be understood without the task of acquisition, preservation and dissemination of collections with immense literary, artistic and scientific interest that the Biblioteca de Catalunya (The National Library of Catalonia) has held since its creation in 1907.
Notable amongst its holdings of approximately three million items, are the collection of nearly 20,000 manuscripts and 500,000 letters. There we find medieval marvels such as the Homilies d'Organyà (13th century), the Llibre de l'orde de cavalleria (Book of the Order of Chivalry), by Ramon Llull and the four great Chronicles; or seminal modern manuscripts such as the Oda a la Pàtria (Ode to the Motherland), by Bonaventura C. Aribau (1833), or L'Atlàntida, by Jacint Verdaguer.
Also notable are the newspaper and sound archives, as well as the graphic collections, with prints, drawings, maps and photographs, from the 16th century until the present day.
The Biblioteca de Catalunya also manages the Frederic Marès Book Museum, consisting of more than 1,500 documents that the collector gave to the institution. And also the Joan Maragall Archive, housed in the former residence of the poet.
From 1939, the Biblioteca de Catalunya has been based in the Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu in Barcelona, one of the most important complexes of 15th century Gothic civil architecture in Catalonia. As a result of the merger of several medieval hospitals in Barcelona, it was for many centuries the largest health facility in the country.
