The history of the Library Building

In 1482, just three years after the establishment of the University of Copenhagen in 1479, the first University Library was established. In the beginning, it only consisted of a small collection of books and written material. In almost 200 years, from 1652 to the opening of the library in Fiolstræde in 1861, the University Library was placed in the attic of the Trinitatis Church that adjoins the Round Tower in Købmagergade.

The original collection has since been re-established because most of it was lost during the great Copenhagen fire in 1728. As the years went by the University faced a growing challenge: lack of shelf space.

As a solution, the first architectural competition ever for a public building in Denmark took place in 1855. The winner of the competition was the talented 38-year-old architect Johan Daniel Herholdt. The new library building was constructed along Fiolstræde. The building was opened in 1861 with shelf space for 300.000 volumes. The building functioned as a library until 2009.