Astronomical Institute

The library of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy is located in the Bosianu House and it is currently the largest astronomy library in Romania. The library has about 11.000 books, journals, stellar catalogues and other documents.

The library’s publications and documents can be accessed in the Reading Room, and they can be photocopied according to the terms of the Romanian legislation concerning copyright. In order to facilitate the readers’ search process through the library’s files, an online catalogue was created and made available on this page.

The oldest books in the library’s collections were printed at the end of the XVIII^th C. The library has about 200 publications from the XIX^th C. such as manuals and books of astronomy, cosmology, celestial mechanics, mathematics and photography. In the library are also about 400 books published in the first part of the XX^st C. which cover fields such as general astronomy, celestial mechanics, cosmology, theory of relativity, astronomical observations. The library fond has about 400 catalogues and atlases and over 200 dictionaries and encyclopedias from the last part of the XIX^th C. up to the present days. To these figures add the over 5000 Romanian and foreign journals of the library.

The gathering of the specialized documents which form today the library of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy started at the end of the XIX^th C. with the activity of the Meteorological Institute of Romania led by Ştefan Hepites - the institutional precursor of today’s Astronomical Institute in the area of Filaret Hill in Bucharest, and with the various donations received ever since. During that time, the office of the Meteorological Institute’s director was situated in the Bosianu House. Later on, the Bosianu House became until the beginning of the 1950’s the residence of Nicolae Coculescu, the former director of Bucharest Observatory. The same house hosted the astronomy classes held by the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Bucharest and the meetings of the Romanian Astronomical Committee and preserved its function as a distinct library up to the present days.

In 1992, started the full restoration of the Bosianu House. The whole process was realized by the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy and benefited from founding provided by the Romanian Academy under the supervision of Direction of Historical Monuments, Ensembles and Sites. The restoration process was coordinated by the professor and architect Peter Derer and accomplished by a construction team coordinated by the engineer Radu Popescu, which included the architects Octav Dimitriu and Viorica Gheorghiu.

Constantin Bosianu (1815-1882) Prime-Minister, Mayor of Bucharest, eminent jurist and patriot, contributed to the creation of modern Romania

Bosianu House, a mid XIX th C. architectural jewel is today the library of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy

View inside the library

.:Library:.

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