The National Assembly Library will soon open to the public after a year of restoration

Under the gold of the Republic, 700,000 works. Law bulletins, collections of decisions of the Council of State but also the founding texts of our democracy. The "Oath of the Tennis Court" which marked the beginning of the Revolution of 1789, the manuscript of "La Marseillaise" written by the hand of Rouget de Lisle in 1792 or even the "Encyclopédie" by Diderot and the manuscript of the "Confessions" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, brought together in the same place: the library of the National Assembly in Paris (7th arrondissement).

This splendid place will reopen on April 10 after a year of extensive renovation work, reports BFM Paris . For the first time, the library will be open to the public. It was previously reserved for parliamentarians, as prescribed by the law of March 4, 1796: deputies and senators, then European elected officials and their collaborators. Only researchers were authorized to consult the 700,000 works in the heritage collection, upon request.

It was the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet , who requested this unprecedented and free opening to the general public. Museum spaces should be set up there around democracy and the making of the law, as she announced this Monday on BFM Paris.

The work, the first in the history of the library, made it possible to restore in particular the ceilings painted by Eugène Delacroix . Nicknamed his "Sistine Chapel" by the romantic painter, the library of the Palais-Bourbon officially created in 1796 was the subject of an alarming diagnosis in 2019 concerning the state of the paintings.

The work which began in December 2023 also allowed for a complete renovation: removal of carpets to restore the original Hungarian-point parquet floors, compliance with thermal standards, etc.

The 42-metre long and 15-metre high room offers 18 km of shelving organised on two floors. It mainly contains works on law, political science, history, economics and social sciences as well as university theses in the same fields. It also has an exceptional old collection of around 1900 manuscripts, 80 incunabula and many rare and original editions. Such as a 9th century Bible or the "Minutes" of the trial of Joan of Arc.