Regional Library of Bizkaia

The origins of the Regional Library of Bizkaia can be found in the personal library of Fidel de Sagarminaga, a politician, writer and owner of an outstanding library of nearly 12,000 titles, on Basque themes. The Library, bursting at the seams due to lack of space, and outdated in its services, underwent a new overhaul, extension and conversion of the physical space in the 1980's; however, the continuous growth of the rich bibliographical and newspaper collections once again pushed the facility to the limit of its capacity. As a consequence, an ambitious project for the extension and upgrading of the building was undertaken under the direction of IMB architects (Gloria Iriarte, Eduardo Múgica and Agustín de la Brena). The result was a Library adapted to the cultural reality of Bizkaia, providing new services to meet the challenges posed by the society of the 21st century. Opened after four years of construction, while at the same time, the building was never closed from the public.