Famous libraries

Famous libraries
Admont Abbey Library
Location: Admont, Austria
It was built in 1776 and to this day is the largest library in the world at the monastery. Its collection contains about 200,000 items, 70000 of which are stored in the main hall. It was designed by the architect Josef Huber. The room is 70 m long, 14 m wide, and 13 m high and is decorated in the traditional Baroque white and gold colors. Seven domes tower above it, the ceilings of which are frescoed by Bartolomeo Altomonte. The statues by Josef Stammel, carved in wood and covered with bronze paint, contrast with the light decoration of the hall. The most famous sculptural group is The Four Last Things. It symbolizes Death, the Last Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. The building's 48 tall windows create optimal natural light and allow you to see all the luxurious interior details.
Bodleian Library
Location: Oxford, Great Britain
One of Europe's oldest and largest libraries is located in five buildings, each with its own history and architectural features. Many tourists tend to go to the School of Theology to see its ceiling, a true masterpiece of medieval architecture. It consists of extremely complex linear vaults with 455 ribs connected by carved bosses. Another popular location is the Radcliffe Camera, the reading room. It is located in a dome-topped, three-tiered rotunda designed by James Gibbs in the English Palladian style. And the main entrance to the library is in the famous Tower of the Five Orders of classical architecture, which is adorned with luxurious columns of each.
Bodleian Library
Location: Oxford, Great Britain
One of Europe's oldest and largest libraries is located in five buildings, each with its own history and architectural features. Many tourists tend to go to the School of Theology to see its ceiling, a true masterpiece of medieval architecture. It consists of extremely complex linear vaults with 455 ribs connected by carved bosses. Another popular location is the Radcliffe Camera, the reading room. It is located in a dome-topped, three-tiered rotunda designed by James Gibbs in the English Palladian style. And the main entrance to the library is in the famous Tower of the Five Orders of classical architecture, which is adorned with luxurious columns of each.
George Peabody Library
Location: Baltimore, USA
The book collection of this temple of knowledge, located at Johns Hopkins University, contains 300,000 volumes. The Greek Revival-style building was erected in 1878 under the direction of architect Edmund Lind. An atrium almost 19 meters high is at its center, surrounded by five tiers of balconies decorated with wrought iron balustrades. An abundance of natural light is provided to the room by the lattice ceiling windows of heavy matte glass. The black-and-white marble floor, Corinthian columns, and gilded decorative elements, including classic antique meander ornamentation, provide a grand appearance.
Library of Congress
Location: Washington, DC, USA
It claims to be the largest library in the world, with a collection of over 130 million items. It is located in three historic buildings connected by underground passages. But the most beautiful and oldest of them is the Thomas Jefferson Building. It was erected in 1890-1897 in the then fashionable architectural style of beaux-arts. Its central portico is decorated with paired Corinthian columns. A copper dome crowns the roof with a symbolic gilded torch on its top. The library is considered one of the most lavishly decorated buildings in the United States. It was constructed using 15 different kinds of marble, granite, bronze, and mahogany. More than 50 American artists and sculptors took part in decorating the interior.
Royal Library of El Escorial
Location: San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain
It is part of the XVI-century Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial and is considered one of the most important monuments of the Spanish Renaissance. It was founded by King Philip II and was planned and executed by the most eminent architects of the time, Juan de Toledo and Juan de Herrera. The main hall of the library is a gallery 54 meters long. It is divided into nine zones, each decorated with frescoes symbolizing the sciences. The floor of the hall is made of marble, and the bookcases are of precious wood. The Royal Library of El Escorial is the only one in the world where the volumes are kept spines inside in order to preserve the luxurious antique bindings.
Mafra Palace Library
Location: Mafra, Portugal
The Mafra Palace, constructed in 1730, is considered a national treasure of Portuguese architecture. In 2019, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The library occupies one of its most beautiful halls. This exquisite and luminous room, built by Manuel Caetano de Sousa, is cross-shaped. There is a vault at the intersection, which is supported by four graceful arches. It is decorated with an image of the sun carved in stone with a human face in the center. The floor is paved with tiles of pink, grey, and white limestone. Rococo wooden bookshelves are arranged along the walls on two levels, forming an open gallery with a railing. They hold about 36,000 volumes in leather bindings dating from the XIV to XIX centuries.
Vatican Apostolic Library
Location: Vatican, Rome, Italy
One of the oldest libraries in the world was officially founded in 1475. At the moment, it contains more than 1.5 million printed publications, 8300 incunabula, 150,000 manuscripts, 100,000 engravings, ancient maps and drawings, and more than 300,000 coins and medals. Since 1587, the library was located in the building built by Domenico Fontana. Its architecture and interiors harmoniously combine elements of classical, baroque, and empire styles. The internal space is divided into many luxuriously decorated halls. The most famous one is Sistine Salon. Guido Reni, Anton Raphael Mengs, Cesare Nebbia, Giovanni Battista Ricci, Jacopo Zucchi and other artists took part in painting the rooms. One of the most expressive architectural objects of the building is the legendary spiral staircase made according to sketches by Giuseppe Momo.
Handelingenkamer Parliamentary Library
Location: The Hague, Netherlands
This extraordinary four-story building, constructed in the XIX century by Cornelius Hendrik Peters, holds all the records of parliamentary hearings and deliberations. And it's designed so that visitors don't need lamps during the day to study one of the 100,000 volumes. The natural light here pours generously through the roof through a dome made of leaded glass. The interior is decorated in the Dutch Neo-Renaissance style with distinctly Chinese elements. This is evidenced by the abundance of red, green, and gold colors in the decoration and the use of dragon-head images and typical patterns in the decoration of the cast-iron spiral staircase and wrought iron balustrades.
Royal Portuguese Reading Room
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Named by Time magazine as the fourth most beautiful library in the world, this oldest library is a magnificent example of Neo-Manueline architecture. The facade of the building, which first opened its doors to the public in 1887, is made of Lisbon stone. It is decorated with sculptures of famous Portuguese explorers, sailors, and writers of the time, as well as rich stucco and carvings. The dominant architectural feature of the inner decoration of the reading room is a fantastic dome of colored glass, from the center of which a wrought iron chandelier descends. Additional accents are put by golden arches and shelves for books along the walls. As for the latter, they are filled with the largest collection of Portuguese works outside the country (350,000 volumes).
National Library of the Czech Republic
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Its residence is the Klementinum, a complex of buildings of the Jesuit College, constructed in the XVIII century in the Habsburg Baroque style. However, only half of the library's holdings, which number seven million books, are housed here. Some of them are very rare, for example, one of the most expensive Gospels in the world, worth 40 million euros. The hall of the National Library is the most beautiful in the Klementinum. Its elegant vaults are painted with frescoes by Josef Hiebel. Bookcases, walls, and columns are richly gilded. The collection of antique globes is placed in the center of the room. There is a gallery with a wrought-iron balustrade along the walls on the second level.
New York Public Library
Location: New York, USA
The library's flagship building, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, is located on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The entrance to this magnificent white marble example of beaux-arts architecture is guarded by a pair of lion statues, Lord Astor and Lady Lenox (or Patience and Fortitude). The interior of the building is stunning in size and beauty of decoration — tall arched windows, graceful columns, luxurious ceiling frescoes, wrought-iron chandeliers, and paintings by famous artists adorning the walls. But most importantly, there are 120 km of wooden bookshelves housing an outstanding collection of volumes devoted to the humanities and social sciences, as well as the fine arts. The library's most popular sites are Astor Hall, the McGraw Rotunda, the Rose Main Reading Room, the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room, and Salomon Hall.
National Library of France
Location: Paris, France
One of the oldest libraries in Europe was founded in the XIV century by Charles V the Wise and is currently among the largest in the world. The most valuable and ancient part of its collection is housed in the historic building on the Rue de Richelieu, the former palace of Cardinal Mazarin. Its main reading room, Salle Labrouste, was named after the architect Henri Labrouste who built it in 1859-1875. He created a stunning ceiling of ceramic domes resting on graceful metal columns. The daylight pours into the hall through the window-oculus in each of them. The Baroque Mazarin Gallery is also worthy of attention. Its ceiling is decorated with gilded moldings and frescoes by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli and Paolo Gismondi. The Italian artist Grimaldi Bolognese decorated the wall niches.
Calgary Central Library
Location: Calgary, Canada
Without exaggeration, it is one of the most extraordinary and coolest libraries in the world. No other such facility can boast of having a light-rail tunnel running through it. The building also has no central entrance. It is accessible from all surrounding streets. The facade of the structure, erected in 2018, has an intricate shape resembling a fish with a large dorsal fin. It is covered with alternating panels of fritted glass and aluminum, creating hexagonal patterns. The central part of the library is built around a four-story atrium surrounded by stairs and balustrades. Natural light is provided by a huge shelved window. Red cedar from the Canadian province of British Columbia dominates the decoration of the entrance areas and interiors.
Qatar National Library
Location: Doha, Qatar
The futuristic building was erected in 2017 and was designed by multi-award-winning architect Rem Koolhaas. It houses more than one million copies of books. The 42,000 m² building is divided into three wings. It has an unusual shape created by several diamond-shaped facades. Their central parts are made of corrugated glass panels, providing the inner rooms with soft daylight. The layout of the interior is free. Racks of books are placed in the form of multi-level lines. They are made of white marble, as is the floor covering. In the central part of the building, in a 6-meter deep space decorated with travertine slabs, is a collection of valuable texts and manuscripts about the Islamic-Arab civilization.
Girolamini Library
Location: Naples, Italy
The building was constructed in 1586 and is part of the large monastic complex of the Oratorian Order. The library has about 180,000 items of ancient books, manuscripts, scriptures, as well as periodicals and musical scores from the XVI-XIX centuries. They are arranged on carved wooden bookshelves, occupying two levels. There is a vaulted ceiling with sumptuous stucco and Baroque frescoes above them. In 2012, the library became the center of a major scandal when it was discovered that the director and his accomplices had systematically robbed its holdings for several years. About 80% of the stolen items were recovered during the investigation, but many priceless artifacts have still not been found.
Austrian National Library
Location: Vienna, Austria
It was founded in the XIV century by Duke Albrecht III. But the building on the grounds of Vienna's Hofburg Palace, in which it is now located, was built much later in 1722, by the order of Charles VI. The library's collection includes more than 7.5 million items of books, ancient papyrus, manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, and musical scores. The real architectural jewel of this temple of knowledge is the Parade Hall, which is considered one of the most beautiful in the world. The room is about 80 meters long and almost 20 meters high, crowned by a dome painted by the court painter Daniel Gran. It is decorated with statues, marble columns, and two pairs of the XVII-century celestial and terrestrial globes created by the Franciscan monk Vincenzo Coronelli.
Jose Vasconcelos Library
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
This modern library was designed by the Mexican architect Alberto Kalach. It combines the building with a garden of 25,000 m² around it. There are more than 160 species of trees and shrubs. Some of the reading rooms have direct access to the green areas. The space inside the building consists of many modules connected by stairs, walkways, and bridges. They used steel, concrete, marble, and granite to create it; wood and glass prevail in the finishes. Several sculptures by Mexican artists adorn the library. The largest and most notable is Ballena. It is hanging from cables in the center and is an artificial whale skeleton created by Gabriel Orozco from calcium carbonate and resin and covered in geometric patterns.
Wiblingen Abbey library
Location: Ulm, Germany
The monastery of Wiblingen was founded as early as 1093 for the Benedictine order. But one of the most beautiful libraries in the world appeared there much later, in the 1840s. Its luxury sharply contrasts with most of the surrounding buildings. And no wonder, as it was created with the purpose to impress the visitors and was used as a ceremonial room for receiving high-ranking guests. Its hall with an open gallery on the second level is a fine specimen of Rococo architecture. Its ceiling is decorated with a stunning fresco by Franz Martin Kuen and gilded moldings. Eight allegorical sculptures representing human knowledge and divine wisdom are located on the first level. They were skillfully carved in wood by Dominikus Hermenegild Herberger and covered with white and gold paint.
Piccolomini Library
Location: Siena, Italy
It was built in 1492 on behalf of Archbishop Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini Todeschini, who later became Pope Pius III and is in the left aisle of the Cathedral of Siena. The library was intended to house the rich collection of books assembled by his uncle, Pope Pius II. However, most of these volumes never appeared here. They are now in other repositories in Italy. The library room walls and ceiling are entirely covered with unique ornaments and frescoes by the artist Pinturicchio. The latter tell about the most striking episodes from the life of Pope Pius II. A sculpture of the Three Graces ( III century A.D.) is placed in the center of the room. Showcases with volumes of church graduals, richly decorated with miniatures, are placed along the walls.
Strahov Monastery Library
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
One of the most beautiful historic libraries in the world is located on the grounds of the oldest monastery of the Premonstratensian Order of Monks, founded in the XII century. More than 200,000 volumes are stored here, including 1,500 incunabula. Its most beautiful rooms are open to visitors. The Theological Hall, which houses various translations and editions of the Bible, was built in 1671-1674 in the early Baroque style and is the oldest part of the building. It is the oldest part of the building and is decorated with frescoes by Siard Nosecký and unique moldings on the ceiling. You can also see several antique globes. The arched vaults of the main hall, which is called the Philosophical Hall, reach a height of two floors. In 1794, they were decorated with paintings by an Austrian artist Franz Anton Maulbertsch. The images he created embody the spiritual development of humankind. Carved walnut bookshelves occupy the walls of the hall.
Marciana National Library
Location: Venice, Italy
It is named in honor of the city's patron saint, St. Mark. It is located in one of Venice's most beautiful Renaissance buildings, opposite the Doge's Palace, and forms a remarkable architectural duo with it. In 1537, Jacopo Sansovino started the realization of the project of a two-tiered loggia, but it was finished a few decades later by another Italian architect, Vincenzo Scamozzi. The gallery with an arcade on the first floor of this noble and light building is formed by Doric columns and Ionic columns on the second floor. The roof has a balustrade and an honor guard of statues. The interiors of the library are luxuriously decorated. The ceiling of the reading room is decorated with 21 frescoes in the form of medallions created by famous Venetian painters. You can see paintings by Titian, Tintoretto, and Andrea Schiavone on the walls. The Sculpture Room displays a collection of antique statues.
The Library of Trinity College Dublin
Location: Dublin, Ireland
The holdings of Ireland's most important and largest library number about five million volumes. It occupies five buildings, four of which are on the College grounds and one more in St. James's Hospital. Old Library is the most interesting architecturally, having been built between 1712 and 1732. There is the Long Room, one of the most beautiful reading rooms in the world. Its length is 65 meters. The space of the gallery on the second tier of the room is divided by graceful columns, which are connected by arches on the high ceiling covered with wood. This creates a stunning optical effect. In front of each section of bookcases are busts of prominent writers and scholars. The main treasure of the library is the Book of Kells, written by Celtic monks in the late VIII and early IX centuries.
Johannine Library
Location: Coimbra, Portugal
The majestic Baroque building was constructed in the eaarly XVIII century by order of King John V of Portugal and is named after him. It houses the book collection of the University of Coimbra — about 300,000 volumes. The central portico of the building is decorated with four Ionic columns and the magnificent royal coat of arms. This oldest library consists of three halls — red, blue, and olive, connected by richly decorated arches. Their walls are almost up to the ceiling, covered with two-leveled oak bookcases. The marble floor has rose and ebony tables. And the leather bindings of books and upholstery of chairs are carefully preserved since the institution's foundation. Gold details abound inside the library, and the ceilings are covered with murals by Lisbon artists Simões Ribeiro and Vicente Núñez.
Telling the stories of the past and present, the best libraries in the world hold together communities and societies. The thousands of books lining the shelves allow readers to expand and grow their knowledge. The quaint meeting rooms provide a safe space for people to meet to work or discuss their passions. A one can't overlook how the buildings themselves celebrate the artistry of makers through their innovative architecture and brilliant technology.
The hallowed room and walls of libraries give insight into the spirit and history of a place just as much as the books inside. While some may express their beauty outwardly in the forms of modernist exteriors or palatial appearances, others invite you inside to marvel at their expansive collections, carved archways, and dynamic ceiling frescoes. Upon a simple visit, it's hard to no to think that libraries may just be one of the most beautiful and rewarding places to be.
From an eco-conscious beauty in Taiwan to a fairytale-like Austrian stunner, these magnificent spaces are as remarkable for their design as for the books filling their shelves. Whether you're an admirer of fine architecture or a self-described bibliophile, these beautiful libraries from around the world will make your literary bucket list.
I don’t know about you, but I’m obsessed with my local library. I mean, if you think about it, the idea of a public library—where anyone in the community is trusted to borrow books, often for long stretches of time, for free, ad infinitum—is fairly magical. Where else do you get something for nothing? Which is not even to mention the many programs, study space, use of computers, and other perks that most public libraries offer. Basically, what I’m saying is: libraries should be even more popular than they are—but some of them are pretty popular already.
Despite the definitive headline, the below list is admittedly inexact—as, I suppose, all lists tracking the movements of large numbers of people in and out of foreign and domestic institutions must be. Not all of the libraries I researched had up-to-date public information about the number of visitors, or any information at all (so these I had to exclude), and there were a few cases where I found competing figures, or press releases in foreign languages. Plus, I admit that I did not research every single library in the world, but only the ones that seemed likely to rank. Now, with all those caveats in place, please enjoy the below popularity contest, and if you’re so moved, nominate your own favorites in the comment section.
New York Public Library, New York, NY, USA: 18 million visitors per year
In their annual report, the New York Public Library reported that they had hosted 18 million visitors and circulated 23 million items over their 92 locations in 2016. (92! That is impressive enough on its own.) Recent individual building or branch numbers were slightly more difficult to come by, but according to a NYPL press release, in 2012, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (what you probably think of as the Main Branch) received 2.3 million visitors, and the Mid-Manhattan branch, which is now closed for renovations, received 1.4 million (though a more recent estimate puts it at 1.7 million, so you may want to mentally adjust both numbers accordingly.)
National Library of China, Beijing, China: 5.6 million visitors per year
Established as the Imperial Library of Peking in 1909, the National Library of China is now the largest library in Asia, with holdings of over 35 million items. The library’s annual report puts their total visitors (across multiple locations) at 5.6 million (5,639,900, to be precise) in 2016.
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia: 2 million visitors per year
According to its annual report, in the 2016-2017 fiscal year the State Library of Victoria saw 2,071,250 visitors, breaking the 2 million visit mark for the first time in its history and making it the busiest library in Australia. They also recorded 4,241,307 online visits, 40,993 reference queries, 29,932 new member registrations, 174,224 collection items accessed, and 1,464,965 uses of digitized collection items. Not too shabby.
Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA: 1.9 million visitors per year
The Library of Congress is not only the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States (it was founded in 1800), but is also the largest library in the country and is among the largest in the world, if not the largest. According to its website, the library hosted “nearly 1.9 million onsite visitors” in 2017—to peruse its 167,000,738 items on about 838 miles of bookshelves.
British Library, London, UK: 1.5 million visitors per year
The British Library rivals the Library of Congress in terms of the size of their holdings, with over 150 million items, many of them unique. According to their annual report, the British Library welcomed “almost 1.5 million” visitors in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, this figure representing “a small but disappointing reduction in our overall visitor numbers.” (In response they will be “making improvements to [their] Treasures Gallery,” which seems like it will work.)
Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen, Denmark: 1.44 million visitors per year
Okay, this one’s a little wonky, because the most recent official information I could find is from 2014, when 1.44 million people visited the Royal Library in Copenhagen. But in January of 2017, Denmark’s State and University Library and the Royal Library merged into the Royal Danish Library—a move I can only imagine has upped the visitor level, when taken as a whole. Still, as ever, I’m working with what I’ve got here.
Berlin State Library, Berlin, Germany: 1.4 million visitors per year
According to this website and Wikipedia, 1.4 million people visited the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) in 2009. I can’t confirm this, because I don’t read German, but I did find what appears to be a more recently updated stats page for the library—also in German, of course. If you can read it, update me.
Russian State Library, Moscow, Russia: 1.17 million visitors per year
I ran into another translation issue here, because the intel on Moscow’s Russian State Library is—shockingly—in Russian. But according to this website, the Russian State Library maintains about 44.4 million items and fields 1.17 million annual visitors.