View of remains of the beams after the fire of the National Library

The early morning of May 10th, 1943 witnessed one of the most ominous episodes in the history of Peruvian culture: the National Library was on fire. Several fire companies were coming to the call, among them Roma N ° 1, Cosmopólita, France N ° 2, Miraflores N ° 1, Rímac N ° 8, Grau de Barranco, and Olaya de Chorrillos. Together they managed to rid the buildings around the library from the flames. At dawn, the disaster seemed under control; however, there were two threats that managed to be controlled by the firefighters.