Biblioteca Pública Arús

Lovers of culture, history and society will find a true haven of peace at the Biblioteca Pública Arús. Set up by the philanthropist, free-thinker and pro-Catalan liberal Rossend Arús, the library opened to the public in 1895 and has become a research centre specialising in contemporary social movements (mainly labour organisations and freemasonry) and books published in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The library is located in the house where Rossend Arús lived on Passeig de Sant Joan and its collections were left to the public in his will. The building was designed by the architect Bonaventura Bassegoda i Amigó and features decorative elements by Josep Lluís Pellicer and other craftsmen like Manuel Fuxà and Lluís Nogués.

The Biblioteca Arús became the Catalan public library that was most ahead of its time. Over the years, it has established itself as an essential source of reference material for students and researchers of culture, history and society.

The Biblioteca Arús is currently open to visitors and houses some 80,000 volumes of books and booklets, serial publications, manuscripts and incunabula, cartographic documents, music scores, microfilms and electronic resources.