„V.A. Urechia” Public Library

V.A. Urechia Public Library was founded by royal decree, issued on December 7th 1889, and inaugurated on November 11th 1890 – the initial collection consisted of 5958 volumes, donated by Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia – scholar, member of the Romanian Academy, politician, historical figure and a senator of Covurlui County.

Over the years, the library had several headquarters; nowadays, the main headquarter is the former building of the European Commission of the Danube, the first international institution that had headquarters in Galaţi; this building is featured among the cultural heritage ones, due to its value.

Nowadays, the cultural heritage left by the founder is fully valued by the Special Collections Department; Urechia’s main concern was collecting valuable documents that made reference to the Roman origin of the Romanian people and language.

The library has in its collections – Romanian old books, part of the national cultural heritage, Romanian books printed between 1831-1865, old and rare foreign books, old and modern manuscripts, correspondence, iconographic documents, reproductions, archive documents.

Among these valuable documents, one mentions the following:

• the 12 incunabul, out of which 7 are classified as part of the national cultural heritage, the oldest one is De Consolatione Theologiae by Johannnes de Tambaco, Strasbourg, 1472;
• 14 Elsevier editions, printed between 1599-1643, among which are Alexandra. Poema obscurum by Calcidensis Licofron, din 1599 or Republica, sive status regni Poloniae, from 1627;
• in the case of foreign, old manuscripts the most valuable is [The Description of Wallachia] by Ahmed Resmi Efendi, 1759, in Turkish;
• autographed letters by Vasile Alecsandri, Mihail Kogălniceanu, Al. I. Cuza, the Felibri poets, Jules Verne, Anatole France, Emile Zola, Alexandre Dumas-fils, Mark Twain, J. Strauss
• engravings and foreign litography by Rembrandt, Albrecht Dűrer, Lucas van Leyden, Jaques Callot, A. Raffet, M. Bouchet;
• Romanian litography and engravings by: Th. Aman, Al. Asachi, D. Pappazoglu, Carol Pop de Szathmary;
• ex-libris which belonged to Văcăreşti poets, to High Steward Constantin Cantacuzino, ruler Nicolae Mavrocordat, Constantin Hangerli, Gh. Asachi – the oldest figured ex-libri belongs to Pantaleon Calliarhi;
• iconographic documents, reproductions: the oldest photo of Galatz, from 1867, called Strada Mare-The Main Street, which belongs to Otto Bielig, a photo album - Congresso degli Orientalisti, Rome, 1899;
• cartographic documents: Galatz city old maps, Covurlui County old maps - the most precious map is : Mercurio geografico overo la Guida geografica in tutte le partid el mondo, Rome, 1669-1699.
• drawings by Gigi Arămescu Anderson, watercolors by Gh. Coron, oil paintings by Rudolf Schweitzer-Cumpăna, Nicolae Spirescu.

V.A. Urechia Public Library has 4 library branches in Galatz, in different town neighbourhoods:

• No 1 „Costache Negri” Library Branch – Municipal Library for Children;
• No 2 „Paul Păltănea” Library Branch - Municipal Library;
• No 4 „Grigore Vieru” Library Branch;
• No 5 „Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu” Library Branch.

The library provides a variety of services: book loan for children and adults, reading and checking various publications in the Reading Room Department, watching movies and documentaries, accessing the Internet and a law database, but also application programs (text , image and graphical processing), specialised assistance in retrieving information, delivering bibliographical lists on request, basic training in using a computer and retrieving reliable information on the Internet, clubs for children, teenagers and seniors. The main headquarters has special equipment for the access of disabled persons (mobility impairment), but also specific signaling for visually impaired persons and Daisy documents loan service, with the specific equipment.

The Library publishes and edits its own serial publications:

• Axis Libri, a quarterly, cultural magazine;
• Asociaţia, an information bulletin which addresses to public libraries and libraries from Galatz County, which is also issued quarterly;
• V. A. Urechia Library’s Scientific Yearbook;
• The Bulletin of the Urechia Foundation – issued yearly.

To these publications, one adds the series Oameni în memoria Galaţiului – People in the memory of Galatz, which has already 10 volumes, which is dedicated to outstanding personalities that were born in Galatz or carried on their activity in this town.

During summer, the Library organises a book fair – Axis Libri International Book Fair and a Summer Library, in one of the town parks.

Sources: Buruiană,Letiţia; Eftimie,Geta; Toporaş, Camelia. Ghid trilingv (română, engleză și franceză) : Biblioteca Județeană „'V.A. Urechia” Galați: 125 ani de existență 1890-2015. Galaţi : Axis Libri, 2015;