National Library of Montenegro

The general collection contains all publications acquired by legal deposit, purchase, gift and international exchange. This fund counts about 800.000 books, 13. 000 newspaper titles and 11.300 journal titles, European, international, and Montenegrin.

Collection of manuscripts and documentary materials: The oldest manuscripts, mainly written by former rulers and prominent persons in Montenegro, date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This collection also holds some personal documents, reports, verdicts. Some of the most valuable manuscripts are: Pismo Ugnjanima written by Bishop Sava in 1774; Pismo Vladike Petra I Petrovića Njegoša Bjelici iz Majina from 1794; Crnogorcima na brodu Porto Roze 1817; and poems of Petar II Petrović Njegoš.

The Old and Rare Books Collection contains about 10,000 library items, including incunabula, postincunabula, old books (Cyrillic books printed before 1868, and Latin to 1800), rare editions and miniatures. Among the most valuable Cyrillic manuscript is Otočnik from the end of the fourteenth century. Among printed books, the oldest ones in the collection are Noctes Atticae, printed in typography of Andrija Paltašić-Kotoranin (Venice, 1477), and Epistolae sancti Hieronymi (Venice, 1496.; printer John Varcelens). Among periodicals from the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Orfelin's Slaveno serbskij magazine, the first Serbian journal from 1768, stands out for its rarity.

The Cartographic Collection consists of more than 500 geographical atlases and 2,500 geographic maps. The oldest and most valuable atlas in the Montenegrin National Library collection originates from 1764. It is the first Mediterranean atlas, Carte de la mer Mediterranée, by celebrated French hydrographer Joseph Raux. The collection also includes 42 800 postcards, of which the oldest ones (from the end of the nineteenth century) can be a very important material for studying the life of the former residents of Cetinje and Montenegro, who recorded their impressions of the great European and world cities, as well as the events from their private lives on these postcards.

The Music and Audiovisual Holdings contain about 27,000 library items, that is about 19,000 audio-visual materials and 8,000 printed music, among which Album Černogorski, 70 narodniuh pisni of Ludvik Kuba from 1890, and Motifs from Montenegro, the concert for Violin and piano by Antun Pogacar have a special value. Among other items, this collection has about 7,500 single records, 7,000 LP records, 4100 audio cassettes, more than 200 video cassettes and 1,000 CDs.

The Artistic and Graphic Collection contains about 74 000 posters of all kinds, of which 17 000 Montenegrin - political, film, concert, exhibition, theatrical, educational, tourism, commercial. Special for their rarity and artistic value are the posters made for the plays performed at the Royal Theatre "Zetski dom" in Cetinje, from the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century.

The National Collection Montenegrina was formed and enriched on the basis of three criteria, on which the Montenegrin national bibliography is based. It includes publications whose authors (actual authors, translators, anthology editors, illustrators, photographers…) were born in Montenegro or originating from Montenegro; the publications published/issued or printed within the territory of Montenegro – independent of the authorship and theme; the publications thematically related to Montenegro – regardless of the authorship, language and place of publication.

The Montenegrina collection contains more than 40,000 books, many of them being unique and rare, and about 1,300 magazines and newspapers, with about 85,000 issues, among which unique and rare are Grlica (1835), Orlić (1865), Crnogorka (1871), Crnogorac (1871), Glas Crnogorca (1873) and Prosvjeta (1889). Old Montenegrin periodicals collection includes 175 titles, or more than 12,000 issues. Modern / current magazines and newspapers include titles since 1946, to date.

The Legacies NLM "Đurđe Crnojević", special or gift libraries of prominent Montenegrin creators, have the status of national cultural heritage. They consist of books, archive materials, and personal belongings of seven contributors: Dr Pero Soc (1884-1966, Doctor of Literature, Historian, Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Kingdom of Montenegro), Nikola Djonovic (1885-1974, lawyer, politician and publicist), Dr Pavle Mijovic (1914-1996, Art Historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, publicist, member of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts), Dr Niko S. Martinovic (1914-1975, lawyer, writer, philosopher, journalist, editor of the daily newspaper Pobjeda (1947-1948), Director of Historical Institute of Montenegro (1948-1949), Director of NLM "Djurdje Crnojevic" (1957-1973), member of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences), Dušan Gvozdenovic (1917-1993, mathematician, university professor, publicist, author of textbooks in geometry and algebra for elementary schools and faculties), Radivoje-Lola Djukic (1923-1995, television, theater and movie director and humorist, writer and journalist, painter, one of the founders of the Belgrade TV), and Dr Dusan J. Martinovic (1933-2010, Doctor of Geography, writer, member of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU), bibliographer, publisher, director of high school in Cetinje (1963-1973), Director of NLM "Djurdje Crnojevic" (1976-1991), chief editor of "Crnogorska bibliografija 1494-1994").