The formation of the library's
stocks began at the same time as the construction of a building
to house them, in the very center of St.- Petersburg, at the
junction of Nevsky Prospekt and Sadovaya Street. As early as 1795
on the Empress's orders the collection of the Zaluski brothers
was brought from Warsaw, and a little later, through the efforts
of Count Alexander Stroganov, the remarkable manuscript
collection assembled by Piotr Dubrovsky, a former official at the
Russian embassy in Paris, was obtained. The latter acquisition
led in 1805 to the establishment of a special section within the
library - the "Depot of Manuscripts". While Stroganov
was still director it was enriched with some of the most precious
Russian manuscripts. Among them was the oldest of all known
Russian manuscript books, the Ostromir Gospel ('1056-57), the
Lavrenhevskaya Chronicle (1377) which contains the beginnings of
Russian historiography, the beautiful Kiev Psalter and many other
rarities.
