Interior view of the National Library with firefighters

The early morning of May 10, 1943 witnessed one of the most ominous episodes in the history of Peruvian culture: the National Library was on fire. The first to raise the alarm was Valeriano Grados, a guard on duty.
When firefighters arrived, the flames had advanced. The different companies that attended managed to free the National Archive and part of the library director's office from the fire, but not the Historical Institute or the Geographical Society, institutions that also operated in the same premises as the Library.