Estonian National Library finishes moving 3.4 million items
The process of moving books, music and art collections, periodicals, sheet music, maps and other printed materials back into storage at the National Library of Estonia's Tõnismäe building has been completed.
"In total, we had to unpack more than 62,000 cardboard boxes of materials and fill 21 storage rooms, as well as move works from the art collection into a 22nd storage room," said Kaire Lass, chief custodian at the National Library of Estonia. She added that unpacking the cultural heritage collections took 158 days.
The rarest books were the last to be placed on the shelves. The collection comprises nearly 40,000 books, with the oldest dating from the late 15th century.
The materials were unpacked by National Library of Estonia staff and 60 volunteers. Lass said the next step will be to place the open-access collections on shelves.
At the same time as the collections were being moved into storage, preparations have been underway for the National Library of Estonia's new services and for furnishing the restored 45,000-square-meter building.
The National Library of Estonia will reopen on May 28, 2027.
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Editor: Kaspar Viilup, Marcus Turovski
