The historic library was a part of the museum ever since its opening in 1889 and specialises today in ancient art and archaeology from East and Far East Asia. The collections of the library comprise books and reviews from Asia and Europe, totalling over 100,000 volumes and 1500 periodical reviews. The patrimonial collection is particularly rich, with ancient literary and traveling books from Europe (17th and 18th century), Japanese illustrated books from the Edo period, Chinese and Korean sutras, Tibetan and Mongolian books and Chinese maps from the Qing dynasty.
