Explore the State Library of Victoria's treasures

The State Library of Victoria has well over two million items in its collection. Some are particularly rare, beautiful or unusual treasures that were originally owned by people like you... individuals who were passionate about a particular object or collection of objects.

Some, like the Bendigo Petition or Ned Kelly's armour, relate to Victoria's history. Others have been pivotal in changing our understanding of life and the universe, for example Darwin's Origin of the Species and Sir Isaac Newton's Principia. Others again, such as Audubon's Bird's of America illustrate the many facets of extraordinary human endeavour.

In recent years the Library has made many of these treasures readily available to members of the public online and onsite.

Library treasures online

A selection of our treasures, including those mentioned above are featured on the Library's 'Treasures' website. Here you can look at digital photographs of the treasures, read about how, why and when they were created and, in some instances, experience a multimedia version of the treasure.

Explore the Library's Treasures online >

Library treasures onsite

Some of the Library's treasures are displayed in three permanent onsite exhibitions. The Cowen Gallery features oil paintings and portrait sculptures from the Library's Pictures Collection. The Dome Galleries showcases some of the rarest and most beautiful books in the collection, as well as important items relating to the Victoria's social and cultural history.

Read more about the Cowen Gallery exhibition >

Read more about the Dome Galleries' exhibitions >

Travelling Treasures

Each year, the Library's collection experts take a selection of our treasures on tour to regional areas of Victoria. This gives people in these areas the chance to see some of our most precious collection items, as well as hear from those in the know about the stories behind the treasures.

Here's a sample of what was on tour during 2007:

• Book of Hours - an exquisite example of the kind of prayer book that was popular in medieval Europe, 1400s

• Shakespeare's Fourth Folio - a rare edition of the collected works of William Shakespeare, 1685.

For the complete list, and the tour itinerary:

Visit Travelling Treasures >