Tomorrow Tallinn University Academic Library will open a new exhibition with a selection of books from the oldest public library in Estonia, the library of St. Olav's Church. Built in the 12th century, St. Olav's Church (Oleviste kirik) had religious literature at the heart of its library as well a collection of medieval scholastics and alchemists books. The exhibition reveals what local scholars in Estonia, which fell under Swedish rule during the Livonian War, read and what the academic climate was like in North Estonia prior to the establishment of the University of Tartu in 1632.
In 1968 the St. Olav's Church Library was transferred to the Baltic Department of the Central Library of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, which is now the Tallinn University Academic Library.