Alert
Attention

Annual maintenance work will take place again this summer, which is why the reading rooms at the Heldenplatz location and in all collections will be closed from Friday, July 25, to Tuesday, August 5, 2025.

Due to the shutdown of the ordering system, no media orders can be accepted from Thursday, July 24, 2025, 4 p.m. to Tuesday, August 5, 2025, 4 p.m. The regular opening hours will then apply again from Wednesday, August 6, 2025.

The study room of the Albertina is closed from July 15 to August 15. During this time (except July 25 to August 5), media ordered from the Albertina collection will be transported twice a week (Monday and Thursday) to the reading rooms of the National Library on Heldenplatz and can be used there.

State Hall

Starting August 1, 2025, the State Hall will open at 9 a.m.

State Hall

Due to an event, the State Hall will be closed on August 4, 2025.

Department of Papyri

Papyrusfragment und Lupe

3,000 years of Egyptian writing history

With 180,000 objects, the Department of Papyri of the Austrian National Library is one of the largest and most important collections of ancient manuscripts in the world.

The written records preserved in the Department of Papyri reflect the historic, cultural, linguistic and religious changes over a period of about 3000 years. The main focus of the collection is on documentary texts from late antiquity (4th to 7th century A.D.).

It holds texts written on papyrus and other writing material of former times such as parchment, ostraca, leather and wood panels. Every one of our objects is a unique original document from ancient times.

A representative selection is to be seen at the Papyrus Museum.

Thank you for your understanding that our blog posts are available in German only.

Follow Chat
JavaScript deaktiviert oder Chat nicht verfügbar.