the libraries of rio de janeiro are a jewel of inestimable value for conserving the city's literary heritage, and for their formative role in its physical, social, and cultural development - in fact, each of the many libraries in rio highlight a different aspect of the city's past.

one such institution is the fundação biblioteca euclides da cunha (euclides da cunha library) part of the national library and located in centro - not only does its name pay homage to one of the most important writers in the city's development, a journalist, sociologist, and engineer who lived between 1866 and 1909, but it also contains 150,000 works that include important national documents, bibliographies, biographies, maps & atlases, newspaper clippings, magazines and scholarly articles.

this library, and a wide host of others which have their own unique features and areas of expertise, keep literature's legacy alive - its great power and transformative magic.