page_title: Leiden University Library
section_title: Western Manuscripts
hierarchical_section_title: Leiden University Library / Special Collections / Western Manuscripts
caption_attribution_description: Fol. 10v Ophiuchus, Serpens and Scorpius
context_page_description: Leiden University Library is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment. This was due particularly to the simultaneous presence of a unique collection of exceptional sources and scholars. Holdings include approximately 5,200,000 volumes, 1,000,000 e-books, 70,000 e-journals, 2,000 current paper journals, 60,000 Oriental and Western manuscripts, 500,000 letters, 100,000 maps, 100,000 prints, 12,000 drawings and 300,000 photographs. The library manages the largest collections worldwide on Indonesia and the Caribbean. Furthermore, Leiden University Library is the only heritage organization in The Netherlands with three registrations of documents in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.
  "Est hic magna commoditas bibliothecae ut studiosi possint studere"
  —Josephus Justus Scaliger
  "The greatest advantage of the library is that those who want to study, can study."
context_section_description: The collection Western Manuscripts contains all western manuscripts (including 2,500 medieval manuscripts and fragments and 25,000 modern manuscripts), 300,000 letters, archives and 3,000 annotated prints of the University Library, including the archives of the university.
caption: Famous manuscript: Leiden Aratea
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