Library

     The book collection of the Apponyi family is known today as the Apponyian Library (Bibliotheca Apponiana). It was founded in 1770 by Anton Juraj Apponyi (1751-1817) in Vienna and originally had about 30,000 volumes. Its collections included over 400 incunabula, Dante's Divine comedy with illustrations by S. Boticceli and Gutenberg's Bible from 1455. Later, the library was moved to Bratislava and in 1827-1846 it served as a public library. It was the first public library in Bratislava and Upper Hungary. After some discord with the city, Count Anton Apponyi (1782-1852) moved the library to the family mansion in Oponice, and built a separate gallery known as the northern wing. It has an atemporal design with huge French patio doors leading into a magnificent park and ingenious galleries that enable access to all the books. After more than 165 years, the library and the mansion were awarded by the Architect's Team and won the Phoenix Wing - a prestigious award that evokes the rise of the Phoenix from the ashes.

     The fate of the library was to be sealed after 1948, when the Communists made it a granary. For eight years, grain was stored in the library, along with books. The unbelievable barbarity was interrupted in 1956-58 by the Franciscan and political prisoner Vševlad J. Gajdoš, commissioned by Matice slovenská. Gajdoš catalogued and cleansed the library, saving it from destruction and burning. The books were stored in the mansion until 1972, when they were moved, in a pitiful condition, to the state warehouses in Martin, and the interior furnishings of the library were burned in the park.

     In 2007-2011, the manor house and the library were reconstructed by the Slovak-Swiss consortium IP Slovakia and, in agreement with the Slovak National Library, a contract was signed for the restoration of the Apponyian Library back to the renovated premises of the manor house. The rebuilding of the library interior was based on designs, postcards and photos and carried out by almost 100 joiners from Zvolen. It now belongs to the most beautiful historical interiors in Slovakia.

     There are rare works in the library, dating from 1515 to 1940, that attract visitors attraction, such as Macchiavelli, Petrarca, Bruno, Galilei, Da Vinci, Dumas, Balzac, Newton and Linné and many others.

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