Ambrosian Library (Accademia Ambrosiana), Milan — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The Ambrosian Library is one of the oldest public libraries in Europe and a treasure house of art and manuscripts in the centre of Milan. Founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo on September 7, 1607, it was among the first libraries in the world to be open to the public.

Borromeo was driven by the ideals of the Counter-Reformation, believing that knowledge and art should be accessible to scholars and the public, not locked away in private collections. He sent agents across Western Europe, Greece, and Syria to acquire books and manuscripts. One of his greatest acquisitions was the library of the Benedictine monastery of Bobbio, whose manuscripts date to the early Middle Ages.

The library holds over 750,000 books and 30,000 manuscripts. Its crown jewel is Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus, a bound collection of over 1,000 pages of Leonardo's drawings, notes, and studies covering everything from engineering and anatomy to architecture and flight.

The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the art gallery attached to the library, was founded in 1618 when Borromeo donated his personal art collection. It includes works by Caravaggio, Raphael, Botticelli, Titian, and Leonardo. The gallery's most famous work is Raphael's preparatory cartoon for "The School of Athens."

If you're on a Questo quest through Milan's centro storico, the Ambrosian Library is a stop where one man's vision created a collection that spans art, science, and faith across 1,500 years.