The Historical-Military Library of Barcelona, in the El Bruc barracks, is one of those unknown but charming places. Among the jewels it guards is the bibliographic collection that belonged to the prestigious Academy of Mathematics, the army engineering school, which for a long time had its headquarters in the old convent of Sant Agustí, next to El Born. Few know that the library is free access, and that is why it is not strange to find in its reading room a student from nearby faculties aware of its discreet and quiet existence doing some research or simply studying.
To access the library, it is only necessary to notify the guard and access is facilitated without further requirements within consultation hours, Monday to Friday, from 9 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. The fund is distributed in several rooms. These are, for the most part, books on subjects related to military activity, although there are also books on history and other subjects.
The most important fund is that which comes from the aforementioned Academy of Mathematics. It was created in 1720. At first, it was installed in a building in the Ciutadella fortress, but in 1752 it was moved to the convent of Sant Agustí, once rebuilt, as it had been badly damaged in the fighting of 1714. It remained there until 1803, when it was dissolved when the Military Academy of Zamora and the Academy of Engineers of Alcalá de Henares were created, where the studies that until then were carried out in Barcelona were transferred. From the Academy of Mathematics, military works were directed throughout the country, but also civil ones. In Barcelona, the Montjuïc Castle and the Barceloneta neighborhood stand out.
In addition to the academy's fund, the library's safe guards some bibliographical gems. Among them, a copy of geometry from 1568 entitled La pratica della perspettiva. It is one of the works of Daniele Barbaro, Venetian cardinal and important scholar of philosophy, mathematics and optics. The book is precisely a treatise on perspective intended for artists and architects.
Another prized volume is a rare 1681 edition of History of the Life and Facts of Emperor Charles V, by the historian and religious Prudencio de Sandoval. Also noteworthy are a treatise on military organization from 1593 entitled Discourse on the way to reduce military discipline to a better and ancient state, by Sancho de Lodoño, and the eloquence treatise Oratori militari, from 1560, by the also religious Remigio Fiorentino.
