Aerial view of reconstruction works of the National Library of Peru

After the fire that consumed the National Library on May 10, 1943, a commission was appointed in charge of rebuilding the institution. Along the same lines of work, a new BNP director, Jorge Basadre, was appointed.
One of the subcommittees in charge of the reconstruction task, decided that the new premises for the library would be located in the same area that it occupied before, adding to said space some adjacent land that was expropriated. While construction lasted, the library was temporarily relocated to a section of the School of Fine Arts.