Maksymovych Scientific Library
The Maksymovych Scientific Library is the main scientific library of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. It is located in Kyiv at 58 Volodymyrska Street, near the university’s Red Building.
The library was founded in 1834 together with the university. It began with the Kremenetska collection, which had 34,378 volumes. The building was constructed in 1939–1940 in a neoclassical style by architects Vasyl Osmak and Pavlo Aleshin. In 1940 it became a scientific library and its holdings surpassed 1 million volumes.
During World War II, some books were confiscated or damaged. The library resumed work in January 1944. In 1983 a room for rare books was created, and in 1994 the library was named after Mykhailo Maksymovych, the first chancellor of the university.
Today the library holds about 3.5 million items, occupying more than 6,000 square meters. It offers scientific, educational, reference, methodological, periodical and other literature in more than 30 languages. Each year it adds about 35,000–40,000 volumes. The room of rare books contains more than 7,000 unique editions. The collection of scientific works includes around 8,000 titles by university authors from the day the university was founded.
The old printed books are a highlight, with more than 7,000 titles, many in foreign languages such as Latin, Hebrew, Greek and old Bulgarian. The oldest material dates from the 16th–17th centuries. Notable items include incunabula, such as a 1497 edition of The Lives of the Twelve Caesars printed in Venice with commentary, and early works like the 1519 Missal in Old Bulgarian, the 1550 History of Sicilian Tyrants, the 1575 Altar Gospel, and Pamvo Berynda’s Lexicon. The library also holds Rare Ukrainian and other language texts from that era.
The library is organized into 13 departments, 17 sectors, 19 lending libraries and 23 reading rooms.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 06:54 (CET).