The House Library was born in the 17th century as soon as the Jesuits began living in the Tower-House (1682). No matter the fact that they have been expelled from Loyola and deprived of their possessions up to eight times, they have gathered a Library with 150,000 volumes. Some 30,000 belong to the 15th-18th centuries, and there are incunabula from the 15th.

There are three different specialized sections:
1) The section of olden books from the 15th century’s incunabula to the entire 18th century, comprising some 30,000 volumes (which may be seen in the virtual visit ).
2) The Ignatian Library, devoted to the spirituality of the Founder (about 6,000 volumes).
3) That of Basque Culture with around 5,000 volumes.

The library funds comprising the centuries from the 15th to the 19th are catalogued and may be identified in the Website of the Spanish Ministry of Culture “www.mcu.es” as well as in that of the Department of Culture of the Basque Government “www.kulturaondarea.org”.

The Historical Archive centers around the ancestral house and family of Oñaz and Loyola and the history of the Spanish Jesuits. For instance, it owns all 63 volumes of Father Luengo’s hand-written diary describing the expulsion of the Jesuits from the dominions of Charles III, but other important documents are not lacking, such as those regarding the Spanish history of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, for instance the State papers of the Duke of Lerma, Philip III’s favorite during the period 1598-1618.

Part of Loyola’s Historical Archive may be explored in the Website “www.irargi.org” of Euskadi’s documentary center, in database “Badator”. Work is in progress to computerize the rest of the Archives.

The Nemesio Otaño Musical Archives and Library, built on the basis of the personal archives of this illustrious composer and musicologist (1880-1956), is at an advanced phase of cataloguing. A good portion, over 120,000 cards and scores, may already be consulted and will eventually be found in Internet.

The library and the archives are open on weekdays from 9,00 to 13,00 and 15,30 to 19,00 hours, and closed the entire month of July and the first days of August.

Further information from:

Biblioteca y Archivos
Santuario de Loyola
20730 Azpeitia (Guipúzcoa)
SPAIN

Tel.: 0034 943 025 000. Fax: 0034 943 025 031
E-mail. bibloy@sjloyola.org.