Venezuela's largest library is the National Library, which was founded in 1883 and has over two million volumes. In 1958, the family of Pedro Manuel Arcaya donated his library of 100,000 rare volumes to the National Library. Both the National Library and National Archives are in Caracas, as are many of the largest libraries in the country. Other libraries include the Library of the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (500,000 volumes), the National Academy of History (100,000), the Central University of Venezuela (280,000), Los Andes University in Mérida (500,000), the Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas (116,000), and public libraries and reading rooms in most state capitals.
Bolívar Museum, founded in 1911, has about 1,500 exhibits dealing with the life of Simon Bolívar and his fellow patriots in the independence movement. The National Pantheon, located in the restored Church of the Holy Trinity (dating from 1744), contains the ashes of Bolívar and the remains of other national heroes. The Birthplace of Bolívar (Bolívar's house) is also a national museum. The Fine Arts Museum, founded in 1938, contains paintings and sculpture by Venezuelan and foreign artists. The Natural Science Museum contains about 30,000 scientific exhibits. Other notable institutions include the Phelps Ornithological Collection, containing exhibits of thousands of Venezuelan birds, the Museum of Colonial Art, and the National Gallery of Art. All the preceding museums are located in Caracas, as are the Fine Arts Museum of Caracas, the Museum of Folklore, and the Pedagogical Museum of Art History. In Ciudad Bolívar are the Talavera Museum, with pre-Columbian and colonial exhibits, and the Jesus Soto Museum of Modern Art, founded in 1971; in Maracaibo are the Natural Science Museum and Urdañeta Museum of Military History; and in Trujillo is the Cristóbal Mendoza Museum.
Ivor J Doherty.