Vernadsky National Library is the largest library in Ukraine by number of items catalogued: it holds a large collection of Old Church Slavonic manuscripts, produced in 10th century and Peresopnytsia Gospel, a 16th-century manuscript traditionally used for presidential inaugurations. On August 15, 1918 Hetman of Ukraine Pavlo Skoropadskyi signed Act on the Creation of the National Library of Ukrainian State. It has changed its official name several times, outlasted the turbulent world war period, and one significant arson in May 1964, and has managed to keep the collection untouched, on account of the dedication and devotion of library staff and scholars.

The modern library building was constructed by the architects Vadym Gopkalo, Vadym Grechina, and Valeryi Peskovsky, in the period of 1975-1989. It represents a combination of neoclassicism and Soviet modernism styles that have functionality, originality, and innovation of Ukrainian architecture of the last third of twentieth century and the beginning of twenty first century. Reading halls and other functional rooms are placed on the first floor, while 27th store building serves as an archive for thousands of works and collections.