The National Library of Serbia was founded in 1832 in the bookstore of Gligorija Vozarović. The initial fund consisted of gifts from Vozarević and other Serbian cultural workers. February 28, 1832 is taken as the foundation day, when Dimitrije Davidović sent a letter to Prince Miloš about the arrangement of the library.In November of the same year, Prince Miloš ordered that one copy of each printed book be given to the library. Thus, the institution of compulsory copy was established. Since 2002, the National Library of Serbia has celebrated February 28 as its day.According to the research of Dejan Ristić, published in the book "House of Incombustible Words", the library was founded on July 12, 1838 in Kragujevac, and moved to Belgrade the following year.The rise in the work of the National Library began in 1853, when the decree of Prince Alexander introduced the title of state librarian in the rank of professor of the Great School.At the time when the librarian was Janko Šafarik (1861–1869), the library was moved to the Captain-Misha building[1] and there, in the left ground floor wing, it met the First World War. At the beginning of the First World War, a part of the more valuable, especially old manuscript books, was evacuated from the library and packed on a train. The remaining books and archives became the spoils of war of Germany and Bulgaria (where they were taken), and a part remained and fell into disrepair. In addition to the books, three of the most important old Serbian manuscripts disappeared in the chaos of war: "Nikoljsko jevandjelje", "Zbornik popa Dragolja" and "Prizren copy of Dušan's Code". A part of the books disappeared and was later returned, while there are books that have not been returned so far.In the First World War, the library was left without its premises, so in 1920, the "Kartonaža Milana Vape" factory was purchased for its needs, on Kosančićevo Venac. 3,200,000 dinars were paid for it, and work began at the beginning of 1922. That year, the library had 300,000 books, 1,195 old manuscripts, 2,500 letters, and 300 incunabula. The space was insufficient and damp, most publishers did not send their editions for registration, not even a copy of the work.The library building on Kosančićev Venac was hit on April 6, 1941, during the German bombing of Belgrade, and a large part of the book collection was then destroyed. ), a cartographic and graphic collection of 1,500 issues, a collection of 4,000 magazine titles and 1,800 newspaper titles, then an important and insufficiently studied collection of Turkish documents about Serbia, incunabula and old printed books and the entire correspondence of significant figures from the culture and political history of Serbia and Yugoslavia ( Lukijan Mušicki, Vuk Karadžić, Đura Daničić, Pavel Šafarik).In addition, all inventories and catalogs have disappeared. Only one manuscript was preserved from the old collection of manuscripts, which was out of the library at that time. Some of the manuscripts that are kept or have been kept in the National Library are: Letopis Popa Dukljanin (Belgrade manuscript), Nicholas Gospel, Munich Psalter, Cyrillic Rampacet's primer, from 1597 and others. The oldest manuscript is the Belgrade Parimejnik from the 13th century.In April 1946, the library acquired the building of the former hotel "Srpska kruna" at the end of Knez-Mihailova Street, in which the Library of the City of Belgrade is located. After the Second World War, the National Library fund was significantly supplemented by gifts and bequests, among the donors were Milan Rakić, Miloš Crnjanski, Desanka Maksimović, Tihomir Đorđević, Ljubica and Danica Janković, Ljubomir Micić, Ljubica Cuca Sokić and others.The foundation stone for the construction of the new dedicated building of the National Library of Serbia was ceremoniously laid on October 20, 1966, and work on the 24,000 square meter building was completed six years later in 1972. The move to the new building began in May 1972. The new dedicated building of the National Library in Vračar was officially opened on April 6, 1973. The building was designed by architect Ivo Kurtović and is considered a cultural monument. The first foreign statesman to visit the new building of the national library was the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Willy Brandt, who was on an official visit to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from April 15 to april 19, in 1973, and on that occasion he donated several books to the library. In 1975, the famous French writer Andre Malraux donated the manuscript of his work "Obsidian Head" to the library.