Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Vilnius

The Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania is an important national cultural institution that has been serving the country since 1919. Its main goal is to collect, organize, and preserve Lithuania's written cultural heritage content, while also providing library information services to the public. The library is named after Martynas Mažvydas, the author of the first Lithuanian book, and it has been granted the status of the National Library since 1989.

Over the years, the National Library has played a crucial role in the development of Lithuanian culture and education. It has actively participated in the knowledge society creation process, and its collection of Lithuanian and foreign documents is constantly being expanded to meet the research, educational, and cultural needs of the country. The library also provides methodological support for Lithuanian libraries and carries out research in library science, bibliography, information science, and bibliology.

In addition to its national functions, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library is also a member of major international library associations and institutions. It has been actively involved in the development of international cooperation, and in 1992, it signed the first cooperation agreement between the national libraries of the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia).

The library building itself is a monument to the architecture of socialist realism, and it has undergone significant changes over the years. The building's technical design was completed in 1952, and it was officially opened in 1963 as the first building in the Baltics designed and built specifically for a library. In 1992, the construction of the library extension began, which lasted for 11 years, and in the summer of 2003, the library extension was officially opened. In 2008, the reconstruction of the main library building began, which lasted until 2016.