The year 2012 will mark three hundred years since the opening of what we know today as the National Library of Spain.

It was founded by King Felipe V in the closing months of 1711 and opened its doors, as the Royal Public Library, on March 1st, 1712. In 1716, by a royal privilege, (the precedent to the current mandatory registration number), everyone who paid for books and papers to be printed, whether it be the author, the printer or the editor, was required to hand over to the Royal Library a bound copy of everything that he had had printed. In 1836 ownership of the Library was relinquished by the crown and became the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, at which juncture it was given for the first time the name National Library.

As a tribute to the National Library's Third Centenary, the Spanish Royal Mint is producing a new collector coin bearing legends and motifs dedicated to this emblematic institution and to the building that houses it.

BOE: Orden ministerial (EHA/776/2012)

The reverse reproduces the seated statues of King Alfonso X the Wise and of Saint Isidore that are located on the entrance steps to the headquarters of the National Library in Spain. The background portrays a stylized image of the main façade of the building, exhibiting upon its pediment the wording "III CENTENARIO", and upon its frieze, "BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE ESPANA".

The obverse of the sterling silver coin bears a likeness of H.M. King Juan Carlos I.