Re-shaping the past, preserving the future. Libraries as cultural heritage holders: the case of the Biblioteca Lazzerini in Prato

Along with archives and museums, libraries have the public mission to preserve the cultural heritage for their communities. Several cases are known of pre-existing buildings with a non-library function that have been recycled and renovated worldwide. In other cases a specific plan has been put in action to re-evaluate and give new shape to emblematic buildings which are a strong part of the history and culture of a specific community. One successful example of the latter is the Lazzerini Documentation and Cultural Centre of Prato, the recovery of which, started in 2000 and concluded in 2009, was aimed at designing a new larger location in the former Campolmi Textile Factory, a well-known example of the manufacturing tradition of the city. The paper investigates the case of the Lazzerini Library and the symbolic and critical role of historical building-renovated libraries, examining how they persist, not only as guardians of documentary material and memory, but as an expression of cultural heritage preservation themselves.