THE ASIAN LIBRARY 24, Solec Str., 00-403 Warsaw, tel. (+4822) 621 94 70
email: biblioteka@muzeumazji.pl

Open from Monday to Friday, from 9.00 to 15.00 hrs.

The Asian Library has over 12 000 volumes of publications in different languages related to art and culture of Asian countries as well as Australia and Oceania. The beginning of the Asian Library was Andrzej Wawrzyniak's collection of books. He is the founder and director for life of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw. Library's oldest publications are dated from second half of XIX century and most of them are invaluable. There are many unique prints, which were acquired from individual and institutional donors from Asia, North America, Australia and Poland.

The Asian Library co-operates with other libraries, mainly with museum's libraries abroad (St. Petersburg, Prague, Budapest, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Leiden, Munich, Hanoi etc.). The library collects publications edited by the most prestigious universities (i.e. Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Honolulu) and publishing houses specializing in art ("Thames&Hudson", "Prestel", "H. Abrams Inc." etc.). There are also many books donated by The Japan Foundation in Tokyo and The Korea Foundation in Seoul. The Asian Library receives catalogues from auction houses (Christie's, Sotheby's, Lempertz, Larasati). In the reference library, apart from 300 language dictionaries, there are rare encyclopaedias, i.e. Kodansha Encyclopaedia of Japan (9 vol.), The Dictionary of Art (34 vol.).

In the library there are many titles of foreign periodicals like Arts of Asia, Orientations, Saudi Aramco World, Canberra Anthropology, Senri Ethnological Studies, Pacific Affairs.

The Asian Library collects Polish publications concerning Oriental subjects and co-operates with Polish museums which hold collections of Asian art as well as with various institutions and academic centres in Poland.

As for Polish periodicals library has Przegląd Orientalistyczny (The Oriental Review), Azja - Pacyfic (The Asia - Pacific Annual) and a Polish version of the National Geographic magazine.

Readers may use library in a place or within limits of interlibrary loans, which are free of charge, except for xerocopies.