President of Latvia Egils Levits, who is currently on an official visit in Sweden, attended a presentation of reconstructed Jesuit college of Riga book collection, which dates back to (1583–1621), and inauguration of Jesuit college of Riga bookshelf at the Book Hall.
In his address to the participants of the event, President of Latvia noted that it is a pleasure to mark the centenary of de iure diplomatic relations between Latvia and Sweden at the wonderful Uppsala University and library, which have traditionally been popular among Latvians. ‘Uppsala became a home and a workplace for many academically educated Latvian refugees who chose Sweden as their place of exile after the Second World War,’ said President Levits. Collection of Uppsala University Library holds the oldest printed book in Latvian, the first Catholic Catechism printed in 1585, and books from the 16th century Jesuit college of Riga Library. These books are significant for Latvian culture and history, and they also belong to one of the oldest book collections at the Uppsala University Library
President of Latvia said it is great that after digitisation these books can now be used for research purposes. Riga Jesuit Library collection was digitalised in cooperation with National Library of Latvia. ‘Both libraries have done an excellent job together. This marvellous project clearly shows how well institutions in both countries can cooperate,’ said Egils Levits. He also wished Uppsala library to continue to be this loyal and competent guardian of collections while also actively contributing to evolution of contemporary information society.
National Library of Latvia was represented by Dagnija Baltiņa and Gustavs Strenga who shared their story of successful cooperation with Uppsala colleagues in digitising 830 books from the collection of Jesuit college of Riga, which will now be available to enthusiasts globally.