Sitting proudly on a hilltop half a mile east of town, the National Library is a cultural powerhouse. Founded in 1911, it holds millions of books in many languages – it's a copyright library so it has copies of every book published in the UK.
The Hengwrt Room is where the library displays all of the really important stuff, such as the 12th-century Black Book of Carmarthen (the oldest existing Welsh text), the 13th-century Tintern Abbey Bible, 15th-century Albert Dürer engravings, a first edition of Milton's Paradise Lost from 1668 and early editions by Shakespeare and Newton. Other galleries display an ever-stimulating set of changing exhibitions.
A fire in April 2013 resulted in water damage to some items in the historic collection; these are currently being treated and should soon be back on display.
The entrance to the library is off Penglais Rd; take a right just past the hospital.
