For lovers of books (and great architecture), these beautiful libraries might just be the very definition of perfection. Make sure to squeeze in a visit to these gorgeous libraries should you visit these cities, or if you’re a real bookworm, use the library as an excuse to plan your whole trip! This list is sure to give you something to shout about (just make sure you leave the library first.)
Some Of The Most Gorgeous Libraries In The World
The George Peabody Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
Reminiscent of the palace library in Beauty and the Beast, palatial might just be the word to describe this beautifully-designed book repository. Opened in 1878, this library, oft-described as a ‘cathedral of books’, features a neo-Greco design with an atrium reaching up to 18 metres high, surrounded by five levels of books framed by black balustrades and gold-trimmed columns. The library is packed with about 300,000 volumes of books with a strong focus on architecture, American history, British art, biographies, Romance languages and literature, geography, exploration and travel.
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The Saint Florian Monastery Library, Sankt Florian, Austria
Okay, wait… Maybe this is the library that inspired the one in Beauty and the Beast. The ceiling fresco (with figures painted by Bartolomeo Altomonte and architectural painting by Antonio Tassi); the golden trimmings; the scalloped balconies. In this library, anyone can find themselves falling in love with books. All 150,000 volumes of them! A reference-only library (although we’ll probably go there just to visit), here you’ll find books and manuscripts dating back to the 16th century, along with 50 volumes and 600 sheets of cartography dating from the 16th-through-20th centuries.
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The Mafra National Palace Library, Mafra, Portugal
A palace fit for a princess! The Mafra National Palace was built to commemorate the birth of the Portuguese King John V’s first child, the princess Infanta Barbara. And one can imagine the little royal herself must have been delighted to explore its halls. The library, designed in the Rococo style, has floors of rose, grey and white marble tiles, with white finishings and trimmings, including white balustrades framing the second level of bookcases, high arched ceilings and massive windows letting in copious amounts of natural sunlight. It’s also famous for its homing bats which protect the treasured books from paper-hungry pests. What’s not to love?
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Stuttgart City Library, Stuttgart, Germany
With clean lines, minimal colour, rows and rows of books filling up five storeys, and comfortable seating, this library is truly a book-lover’s paradise. It’s also a symbol of regeneration: in a bid to revitalise their city centre, the city of Stuttgart decided in 1999 to turn the page on their old library, moving it from its original location in a 19th-century building to a fresh one in 1999. Yi Architects won a competition to design the new library, and they delivered with a deceptively simple-looking, yet remarkable cubic structure that stands tall and proud during the day, and glows with blue light against the black sky at night. Wunderbar!
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Royal Portuguese Reading Room, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In 1822, some immigrants from Portugal felt the need to introduce their country’s literary tradition to the newly independent former Portuguese colony of Brazil, so they started a reading cabinet filled with books from their home country. As their collection grew, they built a structure to house it, designing it in the Gothic-Renaissance style that was popular at the time. Today it now holds almost 400,000 books, including the largest collection of Portuguese works outside of Portugal. Jam-packed with books covering all four walls on three levels, the library is nothing if not impressive.
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State Library Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
If you’re looking for something a little closer to home, you’re in luck. In this building in Melbourne, modelled after the Parthenon in Athens, live 2 million books including a few heavyweight originals. Here you’ll find the folios of explorer Captain James Cook as well as the diaries of the founders of the city of Melbourne itself, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner. The State Library Victoria, originally known as the Melbourne Public Library, opened in 1856 as one of the first free public libraries in the world, ‘open to anyone over 14 years of age, so long as they had clean hands’. The library has several reading rooms, the biggest of which is the LaTrobe Reading Room with its expansive domed ceiling, measuring 37.5 metres both in height and diameter.
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The Long Room at the Old Library, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
With its wooden interiors from the floor, to the bookcases, to the vaulted domed ceiling, the Old Library at Trinity College is reminiscent of an old-school gentleman’s club (the classy kind, of course). Make no mistake, though, as it is a veritable shrine to knowledge with marble busts of philosophers, writers and academics guarding the bookcase stalls. Aristotle, Plato, Shakespeare, Socrates and others cast their gaze down upon those who visit, with ancient and medieval texts like the famous Book of Kells, as well as Ireland’s oldest harp, making this one of the country’s most renowned attractions.
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>>Also read: Discover Centuries Of History In These 5 European Hotels
Tianjin Binhai Library, Tianjin, China
The newest library on the block, the Tianjin Binhai Library was only opened in October 2017, yet it has already garnered many fans due to its interesting design. Inspired by the human eyeball, standing inside the library is like being within someone’s minimalist, all-white peepers. What’s exciting about this library, though, is the way the book shelves are stacked, resembling a more stylish version of the bookshelf-stairs often seen in interior design magazines. Yep, you actually climb up the bookshelves like stairs to reach the upper levels. However, as beautiful as the library is for photography and social media plus-points, you should be aware that there is less here than meets the eye. The upper, unreachable levels are, much like a faux-philosopher’s Billy bookcase, filled only with images of books rather than real ones, in order to make the shelves appear more full. That said, just how many of us will be visiting to actually borrow a book here? This building was obviously designed as a tourist attraction, and it is an attraction that definitely shouldn’t be missed on your next trip to Beijing!
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*Note: These rates are based on search queries made on nz.kayak.com on 20 February 2018. The prices are quoted in NZD. Flight prices are based on results for a return economy flight search. Hotel prices are for double occupancy and include taxes and fees. Prices are subject to change, may vary, or no longer be available.
