The Marciana Library in Venice is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositories for manuscripts in Italy and holds one of the world's most significant collections of classical texts. Named after Saint Mark, the patron saint of Venice, it was founded in 1468 when the humanist scholar Cardinal Bessarion donated his collection of Greek and Latin codices to Venice as a means of preserving the writings of the classical Greek authors and the literature of Byzantium after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. It is the only institution established by the Venetian government that continues to function. The original building, now largely a museum, was constructed from 1537 to 1588. It is considered to be the masterpiece of Jacopo Sansovino and is a key work in Venetian Renaissance architecture. Since 1904, the library offices and most of the collection have been housed in the adjoining Zecca, the former Venetian mint.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblioteca_Marciana

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1708:

Jacobite risings: A French fleet anchored near Fife Ness as part of a planned French invasion of Britain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_French_invasion_of_Britain_%281708%29

1911:

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed 146 sweatshop workers, many of whom could not escape because the doors to the stairwells and exits had been locked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire

1949:

The Soviet Union began mass deportations of more than 90,000 people from the Baltic states to Siberia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Priboi

1971:

Vietnam War: South Vietnamese forces abandoned a campaign to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail, which supplied North Vietnamese troops, in Laos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lam_Son_719

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

adytum: 1. (Ancient Greece, religion) The innermost sanctuary or shrine in an ancient temple, from where oracles were given. 2. (by extension) A private chamber; a sanctum. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adytum

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

In my opinion we learn nothing from history except the infinite variety of men’s behaviour. We study it, as we listen to music or read poetry, for pleasure, not for instruction.   --A. J. P. Taylor https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A._J._P._Taylor