Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte - BIASA (Palazzo Venezia - sede centrale)

The Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte, or BiASA, is a public institute for the research and the study, the most important of the Ministero della Cultura, dedicated at the archaeological, architectural, artistic and historical-artistic studies. Its headquarters are located in the fifteenth-century Palazzo Venezia in Rome, with access to the rooms from the entrance in Piazza Venezia n.3, and a separate office in the historic Sala della Crociera in the Palazzo del Collegio Romano in Via del Collegio Romano n.27. The collection of documentation of the Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte, whose mission is to support the research in the archaeology of the Mediterranean area, from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages, and in the history of western art, is currently valued at about 380,000 volumes (most of which are located in the Palazzo Venezia and in the Sala della Crociera at the Collegio Romano), 3,500 periodicals, 20,700 graphic materials (engravings, drawings, photographs), about 2,000 theatre posters, 66,000 microfiches and 400 CD-ROMs. Among the volumes are incunabula, sixteenth and seventeenth-century books, which are located in the Rare Section. The Library also possesses about 1,600 manuscripts and archival fonds with over 100,000 papers.