Programs and Events 2008
Ambassador Barrett visits the National Library of Finland
Ambassador Barbara Barrett and Public Affairs Officer Nicole Conn visited the National Library on October 10th, 2008. Library Director Kai Ekholm showed the Ambassador around the library introducing its premises, history, and collections. Mr. Ekholm emphasized the role of the National Library as a national institute that is responsible for acquiring and preserving the national heritage and has a significant role in the society.
In the Cupola Hall Rare Book Librarian Sirkka Havu briefed about the exhibition “Books as a Passion” showing the National Library of Finland’s bibliophile collections from the 1600s to the present day.
Library Director Ekholm displayed also some sheets of the map collections which contain approximately 100,000 maps, forming an historically and culturally significant entity. Ambassador Barrett was very interested in learning more about historical maps that express the development of geographical knowledge. She was shown some series of the Geographica, the classic cartographic work by Claudius Ptolemy, as well as a number of works related to the discovery of America.