Paris Polish Library

About

The Polish uprising against Russian rule, which began on November 29, 1830, ended in failure in September 1831, driving thousands of Poles into exile in France in what became known as the Grande Émigration. This library was founded in 1838 as part of that movement. Since 1854 it has occupied a 17th-century building on Quai d'Orléans on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris. Its holdings include roughly 220,000 books, 5,000 maps, and 7,000 prints and plates dating from the 16th to the 20th century, along with works by the sculptor Bolesław Biegas. It is regarded as the largest independent Polish cultural institution outside Poland, and in 2013 it was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World register.