When was the last time you were in the library? Someone, perhaps, still at school, and someone last week. Libraries have their own charm - they are full of stories, beautiful and quiet, everyone can go in there and delve into reading under a table lamp. But mainly in the era of the Kindle and iPad, people often stopped going to libraries, as they did before. This can be considered a shame, because around the world you can find libraries that can attract not only their book fund.
They are stunning with their design and beauty both externally and internally. Although such beautiful libraries can be found in every corner of the world, we have selected only 10 that really deserve to be told about them. Whether you're a bookworm, buff buff or curious traveler, these 10 great city libraries are worth a visit.
1
Stuttgart City Library
Stuttgart, Germany
Built as a two-color Rubik's Cube, critics say this modern library looks like a block prison for books. But many stairs (there are no elevators in the building) and secret cozy corners for relaxing on sofas make it a haven for real book lovers. The building design was developed by Korean architect Yoon Yang Yi. The new city library of Stuttgart opened in 2011.
By the way, on our site most-beauty.ru there is a very interesting article with amazing photos of abandoned prisons.
2
National Library of Belarus
Minsk, Belarus
The National Library is one of the main attractions of Minsk. It was built in the form of a rhombocuboctahedron, the building has 22 floors, and it stores more than 8 million books. The library can simultaneously accept about 2,000 readers, and if necessary, a 500-seat conference room is used. The project was developed by architects Mikhail Vinogradov and Viktor Kramarenko. The library was opened on June 16, 2006.
You can read more about it in an article on the Zen channel of TopCafe.su.
3
Alexandria Library
Alexandria, Egypt
The library in Alexandria was built in honor of the ancient Alexandria library, which was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It is a major library and cultural center located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The library building, with a huge main reading room, has a 32-meter glass roof, tilted like a sundial, down towards the sea and having about 160 m in diameter.
The complex has a conference center, specialized libraries with maps, multimedia libraries, special rooms for the blind and visually impaired, as well as for children. There are four museums, four art galleries for temporary exhibitions, 15 permanent exhibitions, a planetarium, and a manuscript restoration laboratory.
4
Library of the Technical University of Delft
Delft, Netherlands
This library will mesmerize you at a glance. The building, in fact, is underground, and what is visible from the outside is a grassy hill and a huge cone, which symbolizes modern technology. The library at the Technical University of Delft was built in 1997, and it stores more than 862,000 books, issues of 16,000 magazines, and has its own museum.
5
Salt Lake City Central Library
Salt Lake City, USA
Due to its unique architecture, this amazing library is considered one of the main attractions of the entire state of Utah. Opened in February 2003, its project was developed by the world famous architect Moshe Safdi. Everything is unusual in this library: from the six-story bending of the walls, the availability of shops and various services on the lower floor to the reading rooms on the upper floors and the large auditorium with 300 seats.
One of the most attractive moments in this library is the natural light that enters the building from all windows, but does not affect materials and technologies.
On most-beauty.ru there is a very interesting article about the most popular tourist places in the USA that every guest of this country should visit.
6
Admont Abbey Library
Admont, Austria
This beautiful library hall was designed in the late Baroque style by architect Joseph Huber in 1776. The hall is almost 70 meters long and has 200,000 folios. The ceilings were painted by Bartolomeo Altomonte and show the stages of human knowledge up to the highest point of Divine Revelation. The library is located in the foothills of the Alps and is the second largest monastery library in the world.
7
Bishan Public Library
Singapore
This library has won many awards, and I must say, quite deservedly. Her project was designed so that it looked like a treehouse with colorful capsules that protrude from one part of the building. These capsules represent books that stand on a bookshelf. And inside the library, these capsules are cozy secluded places to read. Quite tempting to read a book in such a secluded place! The library is located in the very center of Bishan and covers 4,000 square meters. meters.
8
Library and Cultural Center in Vennesle
Vennesla, Norway
Designed by Norwegian architects Helen & Hard, this unusual library brings sophisticated elegance to a public facility in Norway. The complex was opened in 2011. What is also important, the library is a “low-energy” class “A” building.
In the library, in addition to the library itself, there is also a cafe, meeting rooms, and administrative areas. The library building is connected with the building of the training center. But here you are unlikely to find as many cute Norwegians as we have posted in one of our articles.
9
Vasconcelos Library
Where is: Vasconcelos, Mexico
This giant library is called the "megabyte library." It occupies a colossal area of 124,000 m² and holds more than 500 thousand books that are on the glass shelves of a five-story building. The library is open in honor of Jose Vasconcelos, philosopher and president of the National Library of Mexico.
10
The Long Hall at Trinity College Dublin
Where is: Dublin, Ireland
Trinity College has the largest library in Ireland. It contains over 200,000 volumes. This library has the exclusive right to receive materials published in Ireland for free. And this is the only Irish library to have such rights in the United Kingdom. The long hall has lately been featured in news headlines as it was used as an “unofficial” inspiration for the Jedi archive in Star Wars. Episode II: Attack of the Clones. "
Finally
In the photo: Strahov Monastery, Prague, Czech Republic
This is only the smallest part of all the beautiful libraries that exist in the world. Nevertheless, we want to supplement our list with a few more wonderful objects. And also we ask you to take part in compiling our rating and write about those libraries that you think should be included in this list.