The National Library

Collection title

The group of the Tunisian Television

ID

TUN00101

Source

TT (TN)

First broadcast date

01/01/2003

Production year

2003

Abstract

The program draws on the history of the National Library, for its centenary. It was created in Bey Ali Pacha’s time, by virtue of the decree of the 8th of March, 1885. At the beginning, its repertoire was mainly constituted by series of books given by the head of Public Education, then French Consulate Charles Tissot’s library was attached to it, but its launching only took place in 1910. It was called “The French Library”, then “The Popular Library”, and after the Independence in 1956, it adopted the name of “The National Book House”, that finally became “The National Library”. In virtue of the law on the press, edited in 1975, the National Library became the legal depot for national intellectual production, something that allowed it to enrich its repertoire. The library hosts a great number of books, ancient and modern: one million books, forty thousand manuscripts, sixteen thousand titles of journals. Moreover, it owns audiovisual archives, along with geographic maps, maps, post cards, and so on.

Type

video

Production companies

• Tunisian TV - Own production

Broadcaster

Télévision Tunisienne - Télévision Tunisienne 1

Audiovisual form

Documentary

Primary theme

Science

Period of events

• 1985

Map locations

• Tunisia - North - Tunis - The old town

Original language

Arabic

Media running time

21m11

Additional information

Since 1910, the library has moved to the headquaters of the Souk El-attarine station, close to the Zeytouna Mosque, built in 1810. In 2005, it was moved to its today’s headquarters at 9th of April 1938 Street, close to the university and cultural buildings, and research centers such as: Tunisian National Archives, University of Human and Social Sciences, Museum of Education and Zaytouna University. This new location has a 35, 000 m²-extent and contains a large reading room, a conference room, labs, an exhibition corridor, administrations and a journals room.