The Benedito Leite Public Library, located in São Luís do Maranhão, is one of the most important public libraries in Brazil and the second oldest in the country. Founded on 3 May 1829, the library is an important centre for cultural and educational preservation.
Since its creation on 3 May 1831, it has always welcomed literary and scientific luminaries.
The collection of the State Government body, linked to the State Secretariat for Culture and Tourism (SECTUR), holds treasures such as the manuscript by Machado de Assis sent to Arthur Azevedo, the greatest expression of Brazilian theatre, as well as other documents, now digitised.
The Benedito Leite Public Library is housed in a neoclassical building, built in what used to be called Campo de Ourique, which constituted one of the urban boundaries in the city’s first centuries;
The building was erected on the site of the 5th Infantry Battalion Barracks in 1797.
The building was designed by the Maranhão engineer Antônio Alexandre Bayma and inaugurated on 12 September 1951, during the government of Sebastião Archer da Silva, who promised “not to go down the palace stairs without leaving our only public bookshop in a position to honour our status as a people dedicated to the activities of the spirit”.
In classical style, with a central dome, semicircular wings and window openings surmounted by pediments, columns in the atrium crowned with Corinthian capitals, it has reading rooms for the public and an auditorium on the fourth floor, which has been refurbished and modernised. From the terraces on the 4th floor there is a beautiful view of the city centre.
Acquisition
The Benedito Leite Public Library has a vast collection that includes books, periodicals, maps, manuscripts, photographs and other historical documents. Its collection is especially rich in works on the history of Maranhão and the Brazilian Northeast.
As well as books on literature, science, the arts and other areas of knowledge, the library has rare and special collections, including works dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries.
First installations of the Benedito Leite Public Library
The Benedito Leite Public Library was created by the then president of the province, Cândido José de Araújo Viana, on 3 May 1831, with the origin of a popular and voluntary subscription and receiving the name of State Public Library. To this day, it houses a collection of books, magazines, works of art, collections of Maranhão newspapers dating back to Independence (1822) and manuscripts from the 18th century.
The tribute to the illustrious Benedito Leite dates back to 1958.
A meeting place for journalists, writers, teachers, librarians and other intellectuals, the Benedito Leite Public Library plays an important cultural role in Maranhão and in the country.
The famous Conferences of the Popular University of Maranhão were held there and the Oficina dos Novos, the Civic Society of National Dates and the Maranhão Academy of Letters were founded.
Addresses
The first home of the Benedito Leite Public Library was the Convento do Carmo, in Rua do Egito, where it was inaugurated on 3 May 1831.
In 1851, the space was annexed to the Liceu Maranhense. Then, by Law no. 752 of 1st June 1866, it was taken over by the Maranhense Literary Institute.
On 10 June 1872, it passed into the care of the Sociedade 11 de Agosto, with premises on the upper floor of the building in Rua do Egito, where the State Legislative Assembly later functioned.
On 4 April 1883, it was opened to the public in the Sé Church, returning to the Carmo Convent in 1886, where it remained abandoned and forgotten.
In 1892, it was moved to Rua Afonso Pena. Three years later, the collection was taken to the building on Rua da Paz, now the Maranhão Academy of Letters, where it reopened to the public on 25 January 1898, under the direction of Antônio Lobo.
From 1914 until 1927, it returned to the building on Rua do Egito for the ground floor, and was then transferred again to the mansion on Rua da Paz.
Tourism and Travel Guide to São Luís do Maranhão
