Tourist Information
The earliest origins of the Bibliothèque de France library go back to 1368, when King Charles V had his personal library installed at the Louvre. At that time it contained nine hundred and seventeen manuscripts. In 1537, King François I introduced the principle of legal deposit. This meant that a copy of every book printed in the kingdom had to be deposited at the Château's library. This was a great advance for the library as it enabled it to constitute a particularly complete and rich collection. This principle of legal deposit is still in force today. The Bibliothèque de France's collection became larger and larger and solutions had to be found in order to be able to organise the works it held. It was the King's librarian, Abbot
