Biblioteca di Brera

[1] The library was created in 1770 by Maria Theresa of Austria when she decided to make the collection she had acquired from Carlo Pertusati available to the public.

From 1788, the collection was enhanced by adding publications received under legal deposit regulations which covered works published in the State of Milan.

In 1773, the dissolution of the Jesuits, allowed the library to acquire the collections of the Palazzo of the Collegio Gesuitico di Brera, built in the area of the 13th century convent of the Umiliati.

In 1778, the collection of the Bernese physician Albrecht von Haller, rich in botanical, medical, and scientific texts, was obtained.

In 1795, the legacy from Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini containing some 3,000 works including valuable 16th-century Greek and Latin editions.

[4] During the 19th century, the library acquired collections from Hermes Visconti, the Numismatic Cabinet, the Bodonian, the Mortara, the Lattes (works of Jewish culture), Viesseux miscellanea and from Cesare Correnti.

[5] The Braidense has always had the dual role of both the preservation of historical and literary works and of maintaining its collection of all books published in Milan.