A Livraria do Convento de Nossa Senhora da Serra da Arrábida (1542-1834)

Abstract

This study focuses on the formation, constitution and organization of the Library of the Convento de Nossa Senhora da Serra da Arrábida collection (Arrábida Convent), between the years 1542 and 1834. Located in the conventual complex in the middle of Arrábida mountain range, it’s one of the few monastic libraries in Portugal that has preserved the physical space and its bibliographical collection, even though it is now part of the Documentation Centre of Fundação Oriente. A more in-depth and critical knowledge of how the library of the Arrábida Convent developed during its existence (1539-1834) may only be possible by exploring and addressing each aspect that defines any library as a physical place and a space of knowledge and memory. By means of a qualitative and quantitative study, and using the documentary research method, it was possible to depict the numerical dimension, the thematic composition, the distribution of books by language and date, and the organization of the collection, which will be summarized in this paper.

Keywords

• monastic library
• library science
• library of the arrábida convent
• order of saint francis