Yesterday, rainy day, national holiday, I was thrown at the sofa when I saw the TV news about the launching of the World Digital Library by UNESCO and its partners, taking place at Paris Headquarters. A wonderful project that provides free and unrestricted public access, to a large and unique cultural materials from libraries and archives from around the world, including Brazil. The project aims to expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences.
The Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (Brazilian National Library) contributed with technical assistance supplying content to the web library. The institution President, Muniz Sodré, presents the project in this video (in portuguese).
Manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, prints and photographs were digitized and are available at the digital library. There are cultural treasures like the often considered the first great novel in world literature, “The Tale of Genji”, a 11th-century Japanese Literature novel.
Pages from the novel “The Tale of Genji” by Murasaki Shikibu. Illustrations by Shunshō Yamamoto.
Also a large 13th-century manuscript called “Codex Gigas”, the “Devil’s Bible”, from Bohemia, one of the historical Czech lands.
"Codex Gigas", the "Devil's Bible" manuscript detail.
I just visited it and loved it. Researching is simple, the archives are well organized and the professional digitalization job allows the visitors to see the material in great details. Worth visiting.
Adorei a dica! Visitei o site e é, realmente, muito interessante.